Stare into the Abyss
by Kizmet
Summary: "To Be Good" sequel. After being exiled from Japan Yukio ends up working at his Grandfather's weapons laboratory, but Rin is never far from his thoughts.
1. Family Connections

**Stare into the Abyss**

**Disclaimer:** Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit horror.

**Prelude: Family Connections**

Yukio stood at the edge of the viewing platform staring out over the city of Rio de Janeiro. His heavy Exorcist's coat folded neatly over his arm, the statue of Christ the Redeemer towering over him.

"So you came," an aged voice declared.

Yukio turned and saw a thick-set man, the top half of his face covered by a mask. "I could hardly refuse an invitation from my grandfather," he said.

"You look so very much like your mother," Egin said quietly. "She was a foolish, headstrong child but it seems I miss her more everyday."

"I wouldn't know," Yukio said coldly. "Until today I'd never even seen a picture of her."

Egin looked sad. "The Vatican ordered Yuri's execution to try to regain the appearance of control. After the Blue Night they only wanted to forget that she'd ever existed. The Blue Night cost me everything: My position, my face, my honor, my only daughter. For a time I was completely without hope, and then Shiro gave me this." Egin held out a locket, it opened to reveal a picture of Rin and Yukio as small children.

"You couldn't come for us without drawing the Vatican's attention," Yukio realized.

Egin nodded. "Shiro was the one sent to deal with Yuri after her escape. A month after the Blue Night he returned to Rome. Shiro reported that he'd done as ordered, that he found Yuri and killed both her and her two new-born children. And then he resigned as Paladin. He said that was the last order of from the Grigori that he would ever follow." Egin explained. "They let him go and were thankful he was willing to go quietly. He retired to a small monastery in Japan."

"Where he raised Rin and I," Yukio realized. "With no one the wiser because the Grigori was afraid of what he might say if anyone disturbed his 'retirement'."

"Walk with me?" Egin requested. Yukio fell in beside his grandfather. "Much like you I came to this place as an exile. I'd lost family, position. After Rome this seemed like the deepest of backwaters. But I've found this place has an energy to it, I hope you will come to see it as well. Here, far away from the stultifying air of Rome I had an epiphany."

Egin led Yukio a small service elevator, almost hidden behind the larger ones for the ease of tourists coming up to the viewing platform. He activated the elevator with a key hung round his neck. The elevator descended rapidly, dropping well below the four stories of the public elevators into the heart of the mountain itself. When the doors opened Yukio saw a gleaming laboratory, and beyond that a vast stockpile of weapons. Dozens of Exorcists in white lab coats rushed about with tablets, vials or securely locked, mysterious boxes. Everyone looked busy and focused.

"From my exile I shall rise again and lead the True Cross Order into the future." Egin declared. "For 600 years the Order has been mired in tradition, mindlessly plodding on, fighting a war that will never be won. But from this weapons research facility we will remake the rules of this war. No longer will we borrow our strength from the traitors of the demon race or their more easily swayed brethren. Here we create human weapons to finally put us on equal footing with the demons."

Yukio looked around the facility in amazement.

"Humanity has always been on the defensive against demons. We pick off the cannon fodder they send into Assiah with relative ease but their generals rarely take the field and we never even try to take the fight to them. No one has ever won a war fighting defensively," Egin continued. "The ultimate goal of our organization is nothing less than the complete and total destruction of Gehenna. Then and only then will we truly be free of demonic influence."

Yukio thought of Rin, his demonic power gone, not just sealed by the Koma Sword's sheath, and smiled. Maybe there was still a way he could get around Mephisto and fix Rin.

"We are a long way from that goal," Egin admitted. "Although we are making good progress in developing weapons that are effective against higher level demons. I believe you filed tested some of our bullets…"

Yukio remembered Kuro falling and Rin's anguished howls. "I'd estimate that they had at least a hundred times the stopping power of my normal bullets," he said without inflection.

Egin looked pleased. "This is where they were developed. As both a Doctor and a Dragoon you are particularly suited to appreciate our work here," he said. "In addition to munitions we also have a number of divisions developing toxins that are effective against demons and a variety of delivery vectors."

They passed by an opening to an isolated terrace about half-way down the side of the mountain. Yukio glanced outside and froze. Rin was sunning himself on the low wall at marking the edge of the terrace.

Several moments later Yukio remembered to breathe. The slim, angular man leaning back on his elbows, drinking in the late afternoon sun looked to be around twenty. The pointed tips of his ears poked through hair several inches longer than Rin's and the tail sprawling beside him had several distinct kinks from having been broken more than once in his past. Not Rin, but the resemblance was still uncanny.

"Who is that?" Yukio choked out.

Egin's gaze followed Yukio's and he scowled. "Subject 106. He's one of the most docile, we allow him a few liberties due to his good behavior."

At the sound of their voices the man -demon- turned toward them. Yukio gasped, where his left eyes should have been was a gaping, empty socket. Faded scars ran across his cheek like tear-tracks from his missing eye.

The one-eyed demon rolled to his feet and bounded over to them with a wide smile. "Hello Grandfather!" he exclaimed. Yukio frowned, for a moment he couldn't put his finger on what was bothering him, then it hit him. If Rin had sounded like that his tail would have been up, twitching uncontrollably, but this demon- his cousin? His tail was wrapped submissively around his thigh. Still smiling brightly the demon continued, "Tell your poisoners they're getting better, I barely tasted the crap that had me throwing up all morning."

To Yukio's shock Egin slapped the young man. "Address me properly."

The one-eyed demon immediately dropped to his knees before them. "Lord Egin, the poison I was dosed with this morning was almost undetectable. If not for the charcoal treatments afterwards I'd actually get to enjoy a meal."

"We don't have to treat you," Egin said coldly and got a shrug in reply.

"Honestly sir, I think I'm building up a pretty good immunity."

"I think you've been out long enough 106," Egin stated. "Go back to your cage."

Yukio watched the one-eyed demon walk away. "He called you 'grandfather'."

"106 was a mistake," Egin grimaced. "There is one truth you are going to have to come to understand here: There is no such thing as a half-demon. You might have a demon parent and a human parent but you are either demon or human, there is no in-between."

Yukio didn't agree or disagree.

After a moment Egin continued. "I am going to usher in a new era of peace. I'd like you, as the last of my family, to be with me."

* * *

**Notes: **I originally planned to avoid everything to do with Ernst Frederick Egin for a couple reasons. First because I see that last arc of the anime as Yukio's story and second because it ends things much too quickly given everything I've been putting Rin through. But some of the feedback from "To Be Good", particularly from taiShafie, got me thinking more about Yukio. And suddenly that this is Yukio's story isn't a problem anymore.

The speed at which things wrap up on the other hand… That still doesn't work for me. So this story is only very loosely based on the Anime arc. Egin's base of operations is now in Brazil, because I sent Yukio there. Egin has been in exile the last fifteen years rather than imprisoned (because it never made much sense to me that he was imprisoned_ and _developing the Messiah Bomb). Egin's plans are in a much earlier stage, the Messiah Bomb is still only goal and he's not ready to oust the Grigori at this exact moment.


	2. Into Exile

**Stare into the Abyss**

**Disclaimer:** Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit horror.

**Chapter One: Into Exile**

Eight Weeks Earlier

"_Why are you wasting your time here?" Maruta asked. _

'_Maruta was always too stubborn to give up on lost causes,' Yukio thought ignoring the heavy set priest. He smiled at his customer, "That will be 2000 yen. You'll want to put three tablespoons down your drain every night before you go to bed. That should keep the black ooze away." He walked the old woman to the door then turned the sign from 'open' to 'closed'._

"_Making a living passing off years of Demon Pharmacology training as new age, holistic crap to people too 'modern' to believe in evil? You're better than this Yukio," Maruta said._

_Yukio closed down the shop for the night and headed home. He took a completely unnecessary train ride, detoured through several alleys to lose Maruta, then he took the train back to the station he'd left from and climbed a narrow rickety step of stairs to the third story of the building across the street from the shop. _

_From the shop's register Yukio could look up and see his front door at any time, it was the best thing about the apartment in Yukio's opinion. He unlocked three different locks on that front door and let himself into the cramped little apartment. "Ni-san, I'm home," Yukio called._

_His only answer was soft, steady breathing. Most of the apartment's floor was taken up by large futon. A kitchen was crowded into one corner, an IV pole stood at the top corner of the futon furthest from the door and kitchen, there was a catheter leading to a drainage bag at the bottom corner on the same side. Rin lay flat on his back his eyes closed, his face peaceful. _

_Yukio smiled, he crawled on the bed to sit beside Rin. "Maruta came by the shop again today, but don't worry, I won't let anyone take you away from me," he told Rin. Then he told him about the rest of his day. How their regular customers were doing, the tourists who'd come in and browsed for a few minutes before admitting that what they were hopelessly lost and desperately praying that he spoke enough English to direct them back to the train station. While he talked he manipulated Rin's limbs, trying to maintain a little muscle tone and improve blood circulation. _

_Yukio's fingers were cramping by the time he was done with Rin's PT routine. He went to the little kitchen and started some water heating to make instant ramen. Really cooking took too much time, cost too much and besides it had always been Rin's thing. _

_After dinner, Yukio filled a basin with water and placed it on a low table beside the futon, then he undressed Rin and carefully bathed him before redressing him in fresh pajamas and replacing the catheter and IV. Yukio tucked Rin in and neatened up the tiny room before running down to the bath house on the next block and taking a quick shower himself. _

_When he got back to the apartment Yukio changed into his own pajamas, turned on the bedside light and settled in beside Rin. He maneuvered his twin around so the Rin was laying against his chest then reached for the manga on the bedside table. He held the book so Rin could have seen it had his eyes been open and picked up the story from where he'd left off the night before._

Outside of the small airplane window the city of Rio de Janeiro came into focus before Yukio's blank gaze. He sighed, he'd always been too much of a realist; even in his fantasies where everything had gone according to plan and no one had taken Rin away from him Yukio couldn't picture much of a happily ever after.

He would have quit the True Cross shortly after Rin's supposed suicide. Yukio had known he wouldn't be able to hide Rin from Mephisto for very long while remaining on campus. But it would have been plausible for him to quit, between all his close acquaintances blaming him for Rin's suicide and him blaming the Grigori and their deadline, no one would have been surprised. From the moment when he'd first announced Rin's suicide he'd set out to alienated everyone he could to ensure that no one would have cared enough to look for him once he disappeared.

He would have had to quit school as well. Without his scholarship he wouldn't have been able to afford it and he wouldn't have had the time while taking care of Rin. But he still would have needed access to Exorcist supplies to maintain Rin in a comatosed state. Leaving Rin alone for most of the day to work in a shop that sold the sort of supplies he needed but that wasn't reputable enough to be on the True Cross Order's radar would have been impossibly hard but he wouldn't have had a choice. He would have needed the supplies, needed to make a living, and trusting anyone else with knowledge of Rin's existence would have been unthinkable. If anyone knew Rin wasn't dead they could betray them to the Order.

Yukio continued staring out the window even after the other passengers had disembarked. The stewardess crouched beside his seat. "Sir, are you alright? Do you need assistance?"

Yukio glanced up at her. "Just wishing I were home," he said.

The stewardess gave him a sympathetic look, "Foreign exchange student?" she guessed. Yukio nodded. "It can be a little overwhelming, a whole new country, your family so far away. But I'm sure you'll remember how exciting it can be pretty soon."

"I didn't really want to leave my twin behind," Yukio said. "He gets into so much trouble without me to look out for him."

The stewardess patted him on the shoulder as she took his bag out of the overhead compartment and handed it to him. "Let me walk you to customs," she offered.

"I'm fine," he said shaking her off and stepping into the airport.

He thought about turning around and finding another plane back to Japan but he didn't have the money for a ticket and even if he did what was the point? He'd been exiled and Mephisto had plenty of power to enforce it. Simple practicality would do most of the work Yukio had to admit. His scholarship had been transferred to the True Cross Academy of Rio, as had his posting, although his duties has been switched from teaching to basic Exorcist assignments. Yukio's things had been boxed up and shipped ahead of him, they'd be waiting at his new dormroom.

Rin was in Japan but Yukio had nothing else there: no job, no school, no place to stay and the people he'd spent the most of his time with for the last year all wished him dead. Yukio sighed and made his way toward customs. He wondered if Mephisto would relent and let him know when Rin was kill but he doubted it. In Yukio's opinion the demon was more than petty enough to keep knowledge of his twin from him even after Yukio was proved right and Rin had been used up and cast aside by the Grigori.

Yukio made his way through customs in a defeated daze. He picked up his bags and stopped at the edge of the airport's shelter and stared out at a warm but heavy downpour. He sighed and was about to step out into the rain when a voice shouted "Yo, Wimpy Four-eyes!" Yukio turned and saw a barely clad woman, her long red hair tipped with vibrant yellow, waving to him. "I heard you got transferred here, thought the least I could do was pick you up from the airport."

"Shura," Yukio greeted her in surprise. "What did you hear?" he asked.

"Honestly, a lot of nonsense," Shura shrugged. "I mean, I remember how you used to always go on about how you were going to protect your brother back when you were just a little squirt."

"Mephisto was trying to make Rin into a weapon," Yukio said. "I wasn't going to let that happen. Rin tried to kill himself and they blamed me, sent me away. Rin was still comatosed the last time I saw him. Did you hear anything about how he's doing?"

Shura looked at him for a moment. "The Tokyo Branch went quiet about the time I started digging," she said. "I figured the Vatican wanted deniability if things blow up. So it's actually true about Satan being your father?"

Yukio nodded. "I'm human; I still test myself every few months; but Rin's not. His powers awoke last spring. He inherited Satan's blue flame." He scowled darkly. "Rin was never supposed to awaken."

"Enough standing around jawing. It's a new city, a new life, ya gotta make the most of it!" Shura wrapped an arm around Yukio's shoulders and, after ruffling his hair unmercifully, she started dragging him off toward the car she'd borrowed from the school. She relaxed her arm a bit as Yukio stopped resisting. More quietly she said. "I'm sorry about Shiro and your brother."

"Thanks," Yukio said, feeling a bit less like an exile for a moment.

* * *

The next morning Yukio woke up to barren dorm room and a stack of boxes. 'It was early,' he thought, 'I could start unpacking, start making a place for myself at this new school.' Yukio considered it, and then he hung up his clothes so they wouldn't get wrinkled but left every personal item he owned in the boxes.

He went down to the computer lab and tried to hack his former students' email accounts, if anyone would be talking about Rin it would be them and as an instructor he'd had some privileges with their school accounts. Yukio didn't bother trying his own password to get on to the network, but still as soon as he started trying to access the system a message popped up on his phone.

"Nice try, but I _like _technology. Get over your codependency, leave your brother alone. Sincerely, Mephisto"

Yukio resisted the temptation to throw his phone. Outside of the Tokyo Branch, where Mephisto's recent influence was most strongly felt, the Order of the True Cross leaned toward the archaic. If he wanted access to the Grigori and their agents' communications he'd need to get stationed to the mailroom in Rome.

Then it was time for class. Yukio took a seat at the back of the auditorium feeling resentful of the necessity of wasting his time on school. There had to be something he was missing, some way of getting back to Rin. But the habits of a lifetime made even the notion of skipping school, unless for an Exorcist mission, absolutely unthinkable.

Just before the lecture started a girl slid into the seat beside him. "I don't think I saw you around last term. Are you new?" she asked.

Yukio scowled at her. "I'm not interested." he stated bluntly.

"Geez I just said hi," the girl pouted.

"You're utterly interchangeable with half the girls at my previous school. I'm sick of being polite and tactful. I don't want friends, I certainly don't want a girlfriend. This is nothing more than one of a series of obstacles set in the way of what I actually care about and I refuse to waste anymore of my time on it than absolutely necessary to satisfy the people who have authority over my life." Yukio offered the girl a deathly cold smile. "So thank you for your desire to be friendly, but if you ever speak to me again I will be seriously tempted to shoot you."

* * *

Two weeks passed and Yukio started falling into a routine. He attended classes in the morning and early afternoon, then spent three hours manning a phone in the True Cross call-center. During his free time he futility searched for news about Rin. His attempts to email his former colleagues bounced back, his calls never connected, he'd even resorted to writing physical letters to the priests at the Monastery but nothing had come from it yet. He searched the official Vatican communications for any mention of Rin, but the only thing he could expect to see there was an announcement of Rin's execution. Although the names of new Exorcists were announce to the entire True Cross Organization, it wasn't as if Rin had any chance of passing the Exam.

Yukio had barely started his Thursday shift at the call center when Shura sauntered in. She leaned over his desk and made faces at him. The view provided by Shura's very short cut-offs left a number of the guys at the neighboring desks gaping and one clutching his nose to stem a sudden rush of blood.

"Burn the candles in your children's windows when you hear La Llorona, it will ward her away." Yukio continued his call calmly. "If she persists in haunting your pool we will send a team out to drive her off." He hung up the phone and turned to face Shura, shifting his chair back a bit to avoid her breasts. "Is there something you wanted?" he asked.

"I've got a nest to clear out, though I'd see if your aim's gotten any better, wimpy four-eyes," Shura smirked at him.

"It's hard to improve on perfection," Yukio replied coolly as he stood and picked up his coat.

"Don't be so stuffy," Shura said. "'Cause I'm not carrying your ass back here if you get heat stroke in that get-up."

Yukio considered her for a moment, "I suppose, for once, your dress code isn't completely ludicrous." He left the coat after transferring a number of clips and grenades from his pockets his gun belts.

A jeep was waiting for them outside. "We're headed toward Grajau. A bunch of pets have gone missing from the neighborhoods bordering the forests. Last night a kid got taken," Shura explained as she drove.

"Any hope?" Yukio asked.

Shura shook her head. "Not much. They found the empty skins of the pets just inside Tijuca."

"Chupacabra?" Yukio checked.

"Probably. They aren't usually this bold, so I'm thinking it's big nest," Shura confirmed.

It didn't take the two Exorcists long to track down the nest. Yukio looked at the narrow cave mouth cautiously. Shura grinned. "Keep the bottle corked." she ordered and charged into the cave as she summoned her sword.

Yukio adjusted his glasses with a put-upon sigh and moved to the mouth of the cave. A few moments later the cave echoed with screeches, hissing and the woosh of Shura's Dabo. Yukio drew his guns and set himself. A rush of squat, reptilian creatures with huge eyes and a crest of spines running down their backs exploded from the depths of the cave, trying to escape. Yukio picked them off as they emerged, never giving a step. Five minutes later the rush turned into a trickle and then died away to nothing.

Shura strolled out of the cave, smiling brilliantly, a small child clinging to her neck. "Look who beat the odds," she said.

Yukio smiled as well. "I wondered how so many got past you," he said.

"Well, I was planning on giving you a workout anyway." Shura said.

The two of them found a park ranger and left the child with him then started the hike back to their jeep. As they walked Shura snuck a sidelong look at Yukio. "I did some digging for you," she said. "Tokyo Branch, the whole of Japan is still behind a firewall. I didn't get anything from the order."

"I'm aware," Yukio said through gritted teeth.

"But I pulled the registrar's list for the Academy from the school's public records." She glanced at Yukio again. "Your brother's not enrolled for the current term."

Yukio's vision greyed out. The next thing he knew Shura's shoulder was bracing him as she lowered him to sit on a rock beside the trail. "Rin's dead," he whispered.

"Only that doesn't make sense," Shura protested. "Why would anyone bother keeping news about your brother quiet if he's dead? That's not a blow-up in the Vatican's book."

"Mephisto would keep it quiet because he's a bastard and he hates me," Yukio said.

"I have been able to confirm anything," Shura tried to reassure him. "Your brother might have just dropped out of classes, you've said he wasn't into school."

'I left him and now Rin's dead,' echoed over and over again in Yukio's mind but Shura was looking at him like she was afraid he was about to shatter and he couldn't stand the idea of her thinking he was weak. He summoned up facade of hope, "Or maybe Rin's still comatosed."

Shura's eyes widened slightly at that, she gave Yukio a more critically evaluating look.

By the time they got back to campus Yukio had even convinced himself that Rin was still safely asleep in the hospital where Yukio had left him. But the whole thing made Yukio painfully aware that he couldn't just stand by and tell everyone 'I told you so' when Rin died. The thought of Rin dying was intolerable, Yukio knew that despite all the obstacles Mephisto had placed in his way he had to do something. He would never give up on Rin, never.

When he unlocked his dorm room Yukio found a framed picture of a woman with long curly hair and features that he recognized from the mirror sitting in the center of his bed along with a postcard showing Cristo Redentor from the observation deck at the statue's base. On the back of the card was written, "We have so much to talk about. Your Grandfather."


	3. Orientation

**Stare into the Abyss**

**Disclaimer:** Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit horror.

**Chapter Two: Orientation**

Yukio crossed the campus to the foot of Corcovado Mountain. A lower-ranked Exorcist was standing guard outside a narrow crevice in the cliff face. "Okumura Yukio, reporting for orientation," he informed the guard crisply.

"Right, I was told to expect you." The guard checked Yukio's appearance against the photo on the ID badge waiting at the desk. "This gives you access to the facility. Dr. Saul Patterson, Upper 2nd Class Exorcist will conduct your orientation. Take the elevator to the twelfth level, he'll meet you there."

"Thank you." Yukio accepted the badge and walked into the shadowy break in the rock. Set back out of view, in stark contrast with the raw rock walls of the crevice was a polished metal door. Yukio held his new badge up to the reader and the door slid back to reveal a utilitarian elevator. He press the button for level twelve.

A tall man with a long face and thinning brown hair was waiting when the doors opened again. "Saul Patterson, call me Saul," the man introduced himself.

"Yukio Okumura," Yukio replied.

"So you're my new assistant," Saul said as he led Yukio down the corridor. "I don't know what you were told about what we do in this department but the Facility's supply of test subjects isn't unlimited. So we save them when we can. If a test isn't immediately fatal the other departments bring the subjects here and we do what we can to patch them up again. You'll want to take a lot of notes about healing rates and scarification, it makes the administration happy." Saul pointed down a hallway. "Restrooms are around that corner. You'll have an office in the Infirmary."

Yukio nodded.

"Lord Egin okayed your independent research project, I'd love to know how you managed that," Saul continued glancing over his clipboard. "You've been approved for five test subjects," he paused for a moment. "Oh that explains it, intent to depower not kill. Your failures will help justify some of the overhead."

"It's hardly a given that I'm going to fail," Yukio protested.

"Sure kid," Saul replied.

The minute they walked into the infirmary Yukio's attention was transfixed. The demon from the terrace, the one who looked like Rin, was sitting on one of the beds. Heavy restraints dangled unused from the sides of the bed while the one-eyed demon held a basin beneath his chin. He felt Yukio's stare, glanced up and smiled. Then he gagged and quickly ducked his head again, a thick red liquid poured out of his mouth. When he was done vomiting he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "A lot of blood this morning. Think I'm gonna die this time Saul?" he asked cheerfully.

To Yukio's surprise Saul walked over and ruffled the demon's hair. "Over a little thing like this 106? Definitely not," he said in a friendly tone. "You had ketchup with your eggs didn't you?"

"Kills the taste of the cubeb," the one-eyed demon admitted with a grin.

Yukio edged closer while Saul examined the read-out on the various monitors attached to the demon. "It's really ketchup?" Yukio asked with concern.

The demon twisted around to face him and Yukio realized he'd been standing on his blind side. "Mostly," he said with a shrug. "Daily vomiting isn't exactly good for the throat. But Saul's right, I'm probably not gonna kick it today… Unless I've got more tests scheduled?"

"No," Saul answered as he unwound a bandage around the demon's forearm. "Toxicology has been complaining that it skews their results if the test subjects aren't allowed enough recovery time to maintain their baseline resistance. Lord Egin allocated a half-dozen more test subjects so you won't be doing double duty anymore."

The bandage came off to reveal a ragged gash on the demon's arm. "Still bleeding, I'll have to let toxicology know that something in that cocktail hinders healing. They'll want to capitalize on that." Then he turned to Yukio. "How are you at stitches?"

"Fair," Yukio replied.

Saul stepped back and gestured for Yukio to take over. "Sutures are in the top drawer." He glanced back at the demon. "Next time remind them to strap you down. Just because you cooperate doesn't mean you're not going to thrash around if you seize."

"Oh joy, breakfast in restraints," the demon whined as Saul moved on to check another patient.

"Where are your anesthetics?" Yukio called after him.

The one-eyed demon started laughing.

"We don't use them on test subjects," Saul replied matter-of-factly. "If you're worried put on the restraints but 106 is safe enough."

Yukio prepared the suture then hesitated. "What's your name?" he asked thinking that talking might provide some distraction while he sewed up the gash in the demon's arm.

"You really are a newbie," the demon said with a guileless grin that reminded Yukio painfully of Rin. Then he went on with an relaxed cynicism that could not be further from Yukio's image of his twin, "Subjects don't have names. It's so much nicer looking on the reports when it's 'subject 106' who seized for twenty minutes after consuming 50 grams of powdered cubeb and assorted other nasty things instead of 'Rene'."

"Your name is Rene?" Yukio asked. He took a steadying breath and pushed the needle through his patient's flesh.

"You caught it," Rene laughed, then cocked his head to the side and stared at Yukio intently while the young Doctor finished stitching his wound. "You were with Grandfather and you really look a lot like the infamous Aunt Yuri... Oh wow are you in the wrong place." He leaned in and whispered in Yukio's ear, "Don't worry I won't tell anyone. I wish I'd stayed human too."

A moment later their next patient of the day arrived. A demon with the appearance of a young teenager suffering from a half-dozen bullet wounds. The demon's healing was working furiously but the bullet fragments burned like phosphorous, creating new injuries even as the original insult healed.

The guards who brought the demon in strapped him to an operating table. "Give me a hand here!" Saul ordered. "We've got to get the fragments away from his heart."

"What is this stuff?" Yukio exclaimed as he and Saul picked tiny burning fragments out of their patient's chest cavity.

"Raw solar salt," one of the guards said watching the demon scream and writhe with awe. "It never ceases to amaze me, they shrug off conventional weapons like they're nothing, but a stuff a bullet with a little thing like that and look at the results."

'Lucky for Rin that the refining process makes salt safe for demons,' Yukio couldn't help but think. 'Not being able to tolerate table salt would be hell for him.'

During the chaos Rene slipped out of the infirmary.

As they cleared away the salt the demon's natural healing took over and finished the job. After twenty minutes the demon boy lay limp on the table, breath coming in pained gasps as his skin knitted itself back together. He stared at the ceiling blankly, helpless tears running down his face as he waited for the pain to abate.

With the crisis passed Saul rounded on the guards. "One shot! That's plenty to collect your data. Riddling the subject with bullets doesn't teach us anything! In fact it muddies the water. This is research you morons, not target practice!"

Over the course of the day Yukio saw two more poisoning victims and removed a dart that delivered a micro transmitter which played recorded scriptures. Apparently fatal verses were only effective when recited by a living person.

The first of the two poisonings was treated with a dose of activated charcoal and then spent several hours retching much like Rene had done. Although his physical reaction was the same, the patient was entirely different. The demon had struggled violently against the guards as they hauled him into the Infirmary and strapped him to the bed. Then Yukio and Saul forced a tube down his throat while the demon did everything he could to resist despite the cramps that had his body trying to double over even while the restraints held him in flat. Once the activated charcoal took effect they secured him in the recovery position and left him to suffer as the poison was absorbed out of his system.

The second poisoning victim looked even younger than the first, maybe thirteen and lanky, as if he'd just had a massive growth spurt. He hung listlessly between the guards as they brought him in and while he didn't fight treatment Yukio had to massage his throat to get him to swallow. As he did so, Yukio noticed a bloody sweat forming on the patient's forehead. Within a few minutes the skinny demon was bleeding out of every orifice. Saul glanced over and said, "Well, that one's a success for the Toxin Division. Take notes on the progression then let me know when we're ready for the autopsy."

"Right," Yukio mumbled numbly. He picked up a clipboard and sat down beside the boy and spent the next twenty minutes petting his hair and talking softly to him while he waited for the boy to die. Once he'd drawn his last breath Yukio called Saul back and they cut open his chest to reveal a mass of half-liquified organs. "A major success for Toxins."

Yukio left the Infirmary in a daze. 'What have I gotten myself into?' ran through his head over and over again.

The guard at the exit stopped him as he was about to head back to his dorm and try to forget the face of their successful subject. "Lord Egin requested your presence for dinner at his residence," the guard informed Yukio. "A car is waiting outside for you."

Yukio got into the car thinking that his grandfather was the last person in the world that he wanted to see right now. The driver delivered him to a building in Leblon and turned him over to the concierge who put Yukio on an elevator to an upper-level condominium. A maid met him at the elevator and escorted him to a small but formal dining room where Egin was waiting.

"How was your first day?" Egin asked.

"Why don't we perform our tests on Coal Tars or other, less human-looking, demons?" Yukio asked bluntly, unable to escape the eyes of the boy who'd died.

"Most high level demons are humaniod," Egin pointed out. "A Hell-King would laugh at weapons that would vaporize Coal Tars."

"I know," Yukio sighed. "But… I lost a patient today, a successful test according to my supervisor. He was younger than I am."

"Age is irrelevant, demons are the enemies of mankind," Egin stated.

"If my project succeeds they won't be demons anymore, they'll be sundered from Gehenna, and what remains in Assiah will be as human as any of us," Yukio said forcefully. "Saul told me you approved of my project. You must believe they can be saved too."

"I admire your youthful idealism and determination," Egin said.

"In other words you think I'll fail," Yukio said.

"No, I support your efforts. It would be a miraculous thing should you succeed," Egin appeased Yukio. "To save your twin and…"

"Rene," Yukio filled in. "How can you keep Rene in that place?"

"If I did not everything I have worked so long for would fall," Egin stated. "Unlike the Grigori we _do not _collude with demons. Fools, believing that demons can be our trump card against Satan. They have convinced themselves that they've _tamed _the likes of Mephisto Pheles," Egin snorted in disgust. "It's him that is using them, for hundreds of years the True Cross Order has been little better than a puppet to that demon."

Yukio's teeth gritted at the mention of Mephisto, but he wasn't distracted. "What does that have to do with Rene?"

"The Facility does not collude with demons," Egin reiterated. He sighed sadly, "There can be no exceptions. As the director of the Facility, I am the last person who can break our laws. My grandson Rene died, 106 is a demon and the Facility offers no succor to demons, period. But if Rene could be resurrected… Where do you plan to start your research?"

"My brother's demon blood was sealed for fifteen years," Yukio said, as he spoke his agitation faded. "Rin was born a demon, but the Koma Sword's sheath sealed his blood and allowed him to live as a human. Eventually his powers grew too strong and leaked past the seal, obviously the seal was too weak. A sword is meant to be drawn, but Rin's connection to Gehenna should have been permanently severed not just shielded. A sword and sheath is the wrong symbology, I need something that is designed to locked a demon's powers away for all eternity."

Egin nodded. "You might also study summoning circles. In truth they are partial gates to Gehenna. By studying how one opens a gate one might detect clues as to how to close a gate."

Yukio nodded. As they ate they continued discussing Yukio's plans to devise a method of freeing a demon from Gehenna's influence. Once the dishes were cleared Yukio stood and bowed slightly to his grandfather, "I have class first thing in the morning," he excused himself.

As he turned to leave a picture caught his eye. It showed a small class of newly minted Exwires. A girl with long curly hair and features so very like his own stood in the center of the group staring challenging at the camera. A boy with Rin's tousled mop of dark hair hovered timidly at her shoulder.

Egin noticed the direction of Yukio's gaze. "Twins run in your grandmother's side of the family," he said. "That's your mother Yuri, of course and her brother Yana."

"Rene's father, where is he now?" Yukio asked.

"Our family has been plagued by tragedy," Egin sighed sadly. "I lost Yana and his wife in a car accident eight years ago."

* * *

Yukio groaned when he saw light seeping out around the cracks in his doorjam. He was meticulous in his habits, he didn't have a roommate and there was only one person he could think of who'd break into his room.

He opened the door and felt no surprise at seeing Shura sprawled across his bed going through his manga collection. "Why don't you have the latest volume of 'Fuuka'?"

"Maybe because it's a romance," Yukio said. "Did you break into my room just for that? Because I've had a long day and I'd like to go to bed."

"Doing what?" Shura asked. "You weren't at the call center. That La Llorona was still causing problems, I thought you'd be interested in getting out again."

"I won't be on call center duty anymore," Yukio said stiffly.

"So what are you up to these days?" Shura persisted.

Yukio snatched the manga she was reading out of her hands and gestured toward the door.

"Your grandpappy brought you under the mountain?" Shura guessed.

Yukio's head snapped around. "How did you know he was my grandfather? I barely learned that myself."

Shura shrugged. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. Not if you knew Shiro. Sixteen years ago Shiro Fujimoto got ordered to execute Yuri Egin and any child resulting from her assignation with Satan. Six months after he reported that he'd carried out his orders Shiro adopted a pair of orphaned twins. Rumor had it that he was doing it as some sort of penance for the babies he'd killed, but most people are idiots."

Yukio nodded in agreement.

"You know," Shura said. "There were a lot of people who thought Shiro shouldn't have been Paladin."

Yukio started to protested.

Shura grinned. "Oh nobody questioned that he was the strongest, but the Paladin's supposed to be the Grigori's sword and Shiro had an interesting way of following orders. Most blamed his friendship with our favorite demon headmaster, but you should read some of the transcripts from his disciplinary hearings _before _the two of them became drinking buddies.

Yukio couldn't help the look of curiosity that crossed his face.

Shura laughed. "About three months after passing the Exorcist Exam Shiro claimed he 'forgot' his orders. The presiding judge asked how he could expect the court to believe that an Aria with scores like Shiro's forgot something so simple. Shiro started reciting scripture that flatly contradicted the orders he'd been given. Then he says 'I figured I was doing the guy who gave me those orders a favor by forgetting 'em'." Shura shook her head. "Mephisto didn't teach Shiro disobedience, he taught him politics. The Shiro Fujimoto I knew and read about wouldn't have resigned _after _carrying out an order he found repulsive. Which makes you and your brother Yuri Egin's kids. And just because Ernst Egin would rather everyone forget that he ever had a daughter doesn't mean that they have."

"You're wrong," Yukio protested. "He wanted to meet me because he misses my mother. I'm the only family he has left." Even as he said it Yukio remembered Rene who was 'dead' to their grandfather because this demon-blood had awakened.

"What about your brother?" Shura asked sharply.

"Grandfather can't recognize him," Yukio said quickly. "Because of his position he can't recognize someone like Rin."

Shura snorted. "I'm sure. The man's hatred of anything to do with demons is pathological. Back when he had influence Ernst Egin's pet-cause was getting the Tamer Meister disavowed and having all familiars put down. He stopped short of calling all Tamers subversives, but not by much."

"He's changed," Yukio protested.

"Maybe he is just a lonely old man wanting to reach out to his last _human _relative," Shura said skeptically. "But you watch yourself around him Yukio. Sixteen years ago he held the position of Melchior and he's the one who signed the order for your mother's execution."

* * *

**Notes: **Cubeb or tailed pepper is a berry that was believed to repel demon in both Europe and China. It's used as a seasoning in Indonesia.


	4. Subjects

**Stare into the Abyss**

**Disclaimer:** Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit horror.

**Chapter Three: Subjects**

"_Maybe he is just a lonely old man now. But sixteen years ago he held the position of Melchior and he signed the order for your mother's execution."_

_There had to be some explanation, some reason. Shura was wrong. Shura was lying. Something, but it was hard to think in the middle of a massive hobgoblin attack. No it wasn't the hobgoblins, they were easy enough to deal with, it was Rin. Pressing, demanding answers, explanations, like the spoiled, sheltered brat he'd always been. _

'_What right does Rin have to demand anything? It's his fault I had to grow-up so fast. It's his fault Father Fujimoto died. He's demon!'_

_And somehow Yukio's gun was leveled at his brother's head, his finger on the trigger. The first thing Father Fujimoto had told him when Yukio started training as a Dragoon was never, never under any circumstances, ever point a gun at someone unless you were willing to see them dead. Not as a joke, not if you were absolutely sure it was unloaded, not if you knew you'd never pull the trigger, never point a gun at someone you weren't willing to kill._

"_Why are you so shocked Granddad ordered Mom's execution?" Rin asked. "He's no different from you."_

Yukio tumbled to the floor, he stared around him in confusion. After Shura had left, he couldn't even think of trying to go to sleep. He'd wandered around the dorm, somehow he'd ended up in the lobby, he'd been sitting in the window seat staring out at the night. And then he'd fallen asleep and… Yukio took a deep breath. It had been a dream.

He'd just been dreaming about that first day of class back in Tokyo, the hobgoblin attack, leveling his gun at Rin. Rin pushing him to shoot, forcing Yukio to answer Rin's question though his actions: _ "If you knew all this time, then how did you feel about me?" _ Rin would never know how close he'd come to pulling that trigger.

Yukio remembered Rin's accusation from his dream. Pointing a gun at Rin in the heat of the moment, it wasn't the same as coolly signing an execution order for your own daughter. Yukio took a deep breath. 'Or was it? I don't really know the circumstances. Mother was carrying Satan's children, it wasn't as if she were innocent in all this.'

Yukio knew what the Exwires and the monks at the monastery thought of him once they'd found out about what he was doing to Rin, but really that was for Rin's own good. Everyone knew what he'd done but they still couldn't see that he was just trying save Rin. It wasn't a perfect solution, Yukio knew that, but he'd been doing the best he could in an impossible situation.

Maybe, maybe there was more that he didn't know about the circumstances behind his Grandfather's actions. After all, his grandfather had known for years that Father Fujimoto hadn't actually carried out his orders and he'd never betrayed them to the Grigori.

Yukio sighed, and even if there was nothing more to it, Ernst Egin was giving him a chance to make Rin human again, either through Yukio's research or through the grander plan to destroy all of Gehenna. Even if his grandfather were responsible for his mother's death, how could he give up the only opportunity he had left to save his twin?

* * *

"Your subjects have been assigned," Saul commented when Yukio arrived at the infirmary a few days later. "You might as well go down and see what you have to work with. The cages are on the fifth level."

"All right," Yukio said, although every time he heard someone mention 'the cages' a part of him cringed and wondered just how deep the mire he was wading into ran. 'When I succeed I'll be able to make Rin human again,' Yukio reminded himself. 'Two months ago the only thing I could think of to save Rin was to put him in a coma. But now I've got hope, real hope.'

Saul handed Yukio a short form. "The guard will need this," he said. Yukio accepted the paper.

On level five the guard opened a door revealing a long hall, both sides lined with bars. "Your five are in the first cell on the left," the guard said. "We don't have that many projects for non-fatalities. Your only real competition for subjects from this level is the first level toxin screening group."

"I just want to see them today," Yukio said. The guard pointed to the cell. As Yukio looked inside he felt his stomach drop. The demons caged in the barren cell were nothing but children.

A boy with purple horns poking out of his dark hair sat near the bars stacking several tin bowls like they were blocks. He couldn't have been more than five. A pair of identical four-year-old boys with feline features and bodies covered in short tawny fur were wrestling in the center of the cell.

The five-year-old was wearing a medical smock but the twins were stark naked. A girl with snake-like eyes and scales on her face huddled under a blanket on the lowest of the three bunks. She held a bundle of rags in her arms, rocking them like a baby-doll while she hummed under her breath. A glowing pair of red eyes glared out from the shadows on the top bunk suggested a fifth child.

Besides the bunks the only other features in the cell were a trough with a drain recessed in the floor near one corner and a water tap sticking out of wall above it.

Yukio swallowed. "They're so young," he said.

The girl looked up from her bundle of rags at the sound of Yukio's voice.

"Yeah, the researchers say data on demons less than six years old is pretty worthless," the guard replied. "The bean counters always gripe about how long it takes before we start getting returns so projects like your get support even if they're far-fetched."

Yukio looked around and realized all the cells on this level held child-demons. Some as young as two none older than six. He quickly estimated that there had to be at least two hundred kids imprisoned there. "How did you capture so many demon children? What were this many demon kids doing in Assiah in the first place?" he stammered.

The guard smirked. "Classified."

The little girl started giggling madly, the other children drew back from her. "Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater, had a wife but couldn't keep her," she sang in a clear piping voice. "He put her in a pumpkin shell, there he kept her very well." She smiled at them. "Peter, Great Grandmother is looking for her daughter. The ground will tremble and the sky will burn."

Yukio and the guard retreated back out of the hall, the little girl's mad laughter chasing after them.

"Most of them are feral little beasts," the guard said his earlier arrogance no where to be seen. "But every now and then one of 'em will just start talking. Frankly I prefer the ones that can't figure out what the trough's for."

Yukio returned the Infirmary but what he'd found in the cells lingered. In every injured subject he saw those kids he'd been given to test his theories on five or ten years down the road. Raised in a cage like livestock, dragged out and poisoned or shoved in front of a firing squad. Detached researchers with clipboard watching their suffering with clinical eyes until they finally died and were cut open for the last bit of data that could be wrung out of their broken bodies before they were thrown out with the trash.

'I have to succeed,' Yukio thought. 'And not just for Rin. If I fail those kids are all going to end up dead.'

* * *

For three consecutive night Yukio barely slept as burned through book after book on sealing demons: Making the inks, designing the seal. He studied the Koma Sword's history and how it linked Assiah and Gehenna and how the sheath blocked that link. He studied until his eyes burned and his head swam but how to take all the information he'd absorbed and transform it into a permanent seal that would severe a demon from Gehenna eluded him.

The fourth night he ended up sleeping at a table in the library, his cheek pillowed on an open book. The following morning was a Saturday so Yukio decided to simply pick-up his research where he'd left off the night before. But he still couldn't think of the key he was missing and he found himself staring at the books blankly instead of reading them. Yukio went back to the computers to start a new search, to his surprise one of the abstracts he pulled up from the Facility's database had Yana Egin's name on it. And then somehow Yukio was searching the True Cross' records for Yuri and Yana Egin.

Yukio learned that his mother had shown early potential as a Tamer but had graduated from the True Cross Academy of Cologne with a Knight Meister. She'd remained attached to the school for another two years until her brother completed his Doctor Meister. Yana had married six months before he passed the Exorcist Exam. Once both Yuri and Yana had their certifications they'd been assigned to their father's lab, then located outside of Prague in the small town of Sedlec.

Within a month Yuri requested reassignment. She ended up at the True Cross' Tokyo Branch where she'd qualified as a Tamer alongside Fujimoto Shiro. Yuri remained in Japan for several years without anything worth official note occurring. Until Yuri and a half dozen Exorcists were sent on a disastrous mission in the Aokigahara forest. The burnt out corpses of Yuri's teammates were found at the edge of the Sea of Trees, neatly laid out for burial but there had been no sign of Yuri. That was the last time her name appeared in the Vatican's official records.

Meanwhile Yana had continued on gradually climbing the ranks in his father's lab. A year after Yuri left Yana and his wife adopted a baby boy. Yukio snorted at that. Rene might not have been the child of Yana' s wife but he certainly was Yana's biological son. When Ernst Egin had been promoted to a position in Rome over-seeing all the True Cross' R&D divisions Yana became the director of the Sedlec lab.

Ernst Egin was appointed to the position of Melchior. Shiro Fujimoto became the True Cross' Paladin. Rene Egin turned four. And then the Blue Night happened. While hundreds of the surviving Exorcists were abruptly promoted to fill holes left by all the deaths that night the Egins were demoted. Yana took a position at the, then insignificant, research lab in Rio. Ernst vanished for a year and a half before resurfacing in Rio and taking a minor position in the branch's administration.

The research lab in Rio quickly gained prominence after the Egins' arrival. Almost all the True Cross' weapons advances were coming out of Rio within two years. After five years Yana was promoted to director of the burgeoning facility and his father was one of primary researchers. Then, when Rene was twelve, he and his parents were in a car wreck. Yana and his wife died on impact. According the to the obituaries in the local newspapers Rene died in the hospital a few days after his parents. And Ernst Egin took over as director of the Rio Facility.

Yukio shivered. His mother had been born with the aptitude to be a Tamer but she'd apparently respected her father's opinion of Tamers… until she'd gone to work for him. Once she'd gotten a good look at what went on in her father's labs Yuri had turned her back on her family. Yukio knew he was making wildly unsupported assumptions but remembering that picture of his mother and her twin he couldn't help but think that while he'd inherited his looks from their mother, Rin seemed to have gotten his personality from her. And it seemed that Yana, who looked so much like both Rin and Rene, was actually more like Yukio in temperament.

Yukio knew that, when confronted with injustice, Rin's reaction was loud, immediate and straightforward. He could picture Rin seeing the cruelty of the Facility labs and storming off in a rage, switching his sympathies to the demons he'd once trained to fight. Yukio shook his head, well, he could have pictured it in a world where Satan hadn't earned himself Rin's undying animosity by killing the man who'd raised them as his own. Rin preferred things to be simple, but he wasn't so naive as to think that the world was black and white.

Yukio knew that he himself was more inclined to respect authority than Rin was. Rin went with his gut regardless of circumstances. Yukio was more analytical and less trusting of his instincts. Even if something struck him as wrong he tended to toe the line while quietly collecting more data, because he was willing to admit that his seniors might know better than he. But that wasn't to say Yukio wouldn't buck authority once he'd thoroughly convinced himself that it was wrong. He was just more calculating about how he went about it than Rin was capable of.

Yuri had disappeared into a notoriously demon infested woods only to reappear, although the Vatican's official records made no mention of it, a few years later pregnant with the sons of Gehenna's demon king. Yana remained a member of the True Cross Order in good standing, he even weathered the storm of his sister's indiscretions relatively intact. And the whole time he'd been raising a half-demon child under the Order's nose.

Until it all came crashing down. Yukio imagined the car wreck, twelve-year-old Rene badly injured and trapped with his parents' bodies. The trauma causing his latent demon-blood to awaken. Their demon-hating Grandfather seeing Rene in the hospital with a demon's tail and pointed ears. And Rene Egin quietly died to be reborn as subject 106.

'I never would have done that to Rin,' Yukio told himself. 'I was furious that Rin's rebellious stupidity cost Father his life. I know I hurt Rin but it was to only to protect him from Mephisto's machinations. Ultimately everything I did was to keep Rin safe. And I will succeed. I'll save Rin and Rene and those poor kids. I don't care who stands in my way, Mephisto Pheles, or my own Grandfather, I will save Rin.'

After that Yukio returned to his project with a renewed determination and the sort of focus that had enable him to become the youngest Exorcist on record.

A week later Shura poked her head into the True Cross Library then she rolled her eyes and strolled inside. She slipped up behind the table where Yukio had his nose buried in a thick, dusty book, a dozen more, each one making the dictionary look small by comparison were stacked around him. Shura smirked as she tip-toed up behind Yukio. She lean close to his ear then shouted, "Yo! Wimpy four-eyes!"

Yukio jerked away from her, slammed his knee into the table then lurched backwards, his chair tilted precariously. Shura caught the chair before Yukio's head could hit. Still holding the chair a few inches from the floor, Shura leaned over Yukio and grinned. "Did I scare you?" she purred, fully aware that Yukio could hardly avoid staring at her cleavage from that angle.

Yukio coolly straightened his glasses, ignoring both his unusual position and the view. He sighed, "I'd hoped you might have learned manners now that you're not a teenager anymore." Shura dropped the chair. Yukio rolled to his knees a moment before it hit the ground.

"Seals?" Shura asked picking up the book Yukio had dropped.

He snatched it away from her, "And what apocalypse brings you to the library?" he asked as he smoothed a crumpled page and marked his place.

"Our La Llorona? It's not just one," Shura said, turning business-like. "There's been a dozen sightings and I've confirmed at least three different spectre."

"That's odd," Yukio frowned thoughtfully as he laid his book aside. "La Llorona may travel hundreds of miles along the banks of a river, but they remain tied to the site of their crime."

"Yep," Shura agreed. "So what's drawing them all here? It's not like we can exorcise them when they're condemned to wander the earth until they find the souls of their murdered children."

"Hhmmm, we know they are truly bound to the sites of their crimes, not like a Haugbui. La Llorona stay out of hope of finding their children," Yukio said slowly. "There are records of ones who turn vengeful and seek out faithless men; like the lover who abandoned them; to lure to their doom. Those La Llorona are seen further from waterways... but even they don't completely abandon their place of origin."

"Maybe something's convincing them that their children are here," Shura speculated.

"It's possible," Yukio allowed. "Off hand I can't think of anything that would spontaneously convince multiple La Llorona that their children could be here. Do you know how far they're coming from?"

"Talked to one from the Rio Grande," Shura said.

"Whatever it is it is strong enough to affect spirits as far away as the Mexican/US border?" Yukio asked in shock.

"If you're not too busy with your shiny new job, you could help me look," Shura offered.

"That's not how you ask for a favor," Yukio said as he cleaned his glasses.

"Think of the children they might steal," Shura pouted at him.

Yukio sighed and headed toward the bank of computers housing the card catalogue. Shura trailed after him. "Maybe something going on in your grandpappy's lab," she suggested.

Yukio froze for a moment, "Why would you think that?" he said cautiously. As soon as he'd agreed to join his grandfather's lab Yukio had been given to understand that the activities in the lab were to be kept secret, even from the rest of the Order.

"Secret demon laboratory, weird-acting demons in the area, why wouldn't I?" Shura said. "What do you do there anyway?"

"Nothing interesting, I work in the infirmary," Yukio replied evasively. Sometime he wondered what would have happened if he'd refused his grandfather's invitation.

"How much call does a lab have for an infirmary?" Shura pried.

"Well, I'm also working on a project of my own," Yukio said.

"Sealing demons?" Shura gestured back toward the pile of books Yukio had been reading.

"If there's a way, somehow, to make Rin human again…" Yukio trailed off. For several minutes he and Shura searched the database in silence, taking notes about texts that might have the answers they sought.

"You know, you never told me why people blamed you when your brother attempted suicide," Shura hinted.

The pencil in Yukio's hand snapped.

"It was a suicide attempt, not some sort of crazy attempt to make himself human for you?" Shura asked on a hunch.

"His familiar went feral. I shot it. Rin tried to drown himself in holy water." Yukio answered shortly, his tone left no question that the subject was closed.

"Are y-" Shura began.

Yukio stormed off before she could complete her question.

**Note:** Forget the misleading illustration in modern 'Mother Goose' books, Peter's wife did NOT happily set up house in the pumpkin shell after he shoved her in there.

Instead of La Llorona being a single individual I'm using the legend as the fate of any woman who murders her children.


	5. Peanut Butter Past

**Stare into the Abyss**

**Disclaimer:** Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit horror.

**Chapter Four: Peanut Butter Past**

As the elevator rose toward his grandfather's home Yukio reminded himself that whatever doubts he might have about the man, Ernst Egin was giving him a chance to make Rin human again. Until Rin was human it didn't matter Egin had done in the past or what secrets the Facility might hide.

The elevator doors slid open and Yukio was surprised to hear Shura's voice. "The Grigori authorized me to investigate your facility."

"Over a few lost La Llorona?" Egin replied dismissively. "Young lady, I know a pretext when I hear one. I've provided you with the abstracts for the research currently going on in the Facility, that should be more than enough to tell you that we have nothing to do with your spectre problem. Do not try to blame me when the Grigori's methods prove insufficient."

"Yeah, you gave me some cooked books," Shura replied dismissively. "Don't think I haven't noticed you never go out after dark. You know why the La Llorona are here."

"When I was a member of the Grigori, the Order was making significant gains against the forces of darkness, my labs create the most efficient means of killing demons ever seen on this planet," Egin declared. "I have many enemies in Satan's Legion."

"And don't forget you had his paramour killed… even though she was your daughter." Shura said.

"You have overstayed your welcome," Egin said coldly.

"I'll be sure to report fully on your co-operative attitude," Shura replied, Yukio caught sight of her anything-but-innocent smile as she turned to leave. As she caught sight of him, Shura's expression changed to one of friendly surprise. "Yukio? You know the Facility Director," she exclaimed as she threw an arm around Yukio's shoulders and leaned up against him. "That is so weird." She turned to Egin. "Me and Yukio here studied together for our Doctor Meister." She gave Yukio one last squeeze then let herself out.

"That woman is a menace," Egin declared once the elevator doors had closed.

"Shura can be annoying," Yukio admitted. "But she keeps you sharp. I wouldn't be half the Dragoon that I am if not for trying to compete with her skills as a knight."

"She's poking into things that are none of her business," Egin said frowning. "Be cautious about what you tell her."

"I'm always careful," Yukio stated.

"She has a kunoichi's linage, watch what you say to her in bed as well."

Yukio flushed bright red. "I'm not sleeping with Shura!" he sputtered. "She does that stuff just to try to embarrass me! It would be totally inappropriate! I was seven when we met!"

"You're not seven anymore and she is unscrupulous," Egin warned.

Yukio drew himself up, despite the lingering flush on his cheeks his face became an expressionless mask. "I don't believe we've known each other long enough to be having this conversation," he stated.

"Of course," Egin said bowing his head. "We should have dinner. I should like to come to know you well enough that you would accept advice from me on delicate matters someday."

* * *

Yukio was yawning over his lab books the day after another long night in the library when two Exorcists hauled Rene in and dumped him on one of the beds.

Rene was wheezing and clawing at his throat. The one-eyed demon's face was swollen and red. He kept trying to double over as he writhed in pain. For a moment Yukio found himself staring into a terrified grey eye. 'Grey not blue,' Yukio told himself 'And the room doesn't stink of burnt flesh.' Still Yukio felt panic bubbling up inside him, he could see Rin laying on the tiles in the bathroom struggling to breathe.

Saul shoved Yukio aside and forced a curved metal spatula into Rene's throat, opening it up so that he could intubate him then gave him an injection. After a few tense moments Rene's body relaxed as the flow of oxygen was restored. Saul signed with relief and started attaching monitors to Rene.

Yukio forced his fists to open, he stared at the bloody crescents on his hands in confusion then went to assist Saul in getting Rene settled.

Ten minutes later Egin stormed into the infirmary. He stared at Rene for a moment then turned on Saul. "Who is the idiot who gave him peanut butter!" he demanded. "His file clearly states he's allergic! Why do we even have peanuts here!"

Yukio stared at his grandfather in disbelief. 'Peanut butter? Rene is dosed with anti-demon pharmaceuticals on a daily basis and he almost died because of peanut butter?'

"His _human _medical records listed his allergy," Saul said reasonably. "No one bothered to transfer the information after his demon blood awoke."

Egin glared at the man speechlessly for a moment then stormed back out of the infirmary.

"What was that?" Yukio asked in confusion.

Saul shrugged, "Lord Egin believed 106 was human for twelve years, after he learned the truth he brought him here, told us he was to be treated like any other demon. He even ran the first experiment on him himself. Still, given what you just saw, are you surprised that no one here wants to be the one to kill him?"

* * *

Before he left Yukio copied Rene's file onto his thumb drive, if Saul noticed he didn't say anything. That night Yukio waited until the computer lab was all but deserted then downloaded the earliest records in the file.

The file included an embedded video file. Yukio opened the file and watched. The camera was focused on a chair with restraints but Yukio could hear a door opening and shutting.

"_Grandpa?" a high, uncertain voice asked._

"_Get up there," Egin commanded. _

_A boy who could have been Rin except for his soft grey eyes and the fact that Rin hadn't had a tail at twelve climbed up on the chair and sat down. Egin leaned across him to secure straps across his hips, his shoulders._

"_Grandpa, I want to go home," Rene said in a wavering voice. "You said Daddy would be here. Where's my daddy?"_

"_Your father and mother are dead," Egin said as he secured another strap across Rene's thighs, then his arms. "If you were a natural creature you would have died too, but because of the evil in you, you lived."_

"_Grandpa?" Tears welled up in Rene's eyes. "What did I do? Where are Mommy and Daddy?"_

"_They died and you'll never see them again because you're a demon. You are the enemy of all mankind," Egin declared. He secured Rene's head in a brace, tightening the strap across the boy's forehead and chin until his head was completely immobilized._

"_W-what are you doing, Grandpa?" Rene pled. "What did I do?"_

"_You are a demon, a monster. You are repulsive in God's sight. Your existence shall not be tolerated. We Exorcists exist solely to rid the world of your kind. There can be no mercy for your kind. You are the source of all that is evil in our world and you must be eradicated." Egin proclaimed. He attached a clamp to Rene's face that forced his left eye open. "The only reason I don't destroy you here and now and rid the world of such a blight is because you can be used so that we might better learn to destroy your kind."_

"_Grandpa?"_

"_Demons are the enemy of all that is good. As Exorcists we have a sacred duty to protect Assiah from demonic influence through any means necessary." Egin moved a buret into place over Rene's eye and started the automated drip. _

_Methodically holy water was dripped into Rene's open eye. The twelve year old screamed and screamed. _

After several minutes Yukio hit the fast forward button. The video went on and on, for days. Rene screamed until something burst in his throat, somehow it was even worse as the torture continued and Rene wasn't even capable of giving voice to his suffering. The holy water beaded up in Rene's eye until it ran down his cheek like tears.

Even though Yukio fast-forwarded through large segments of the video file it still took him most of the night to finish watching it. The torture went on and on without reprieve. When Egin finally stopped the holy water drip Rene's eye had become the gaping empty socket that had shocked Yukio when he'd first seen his cousin.

_When Egin released Rene's restraints the twelve-year-old asked in a hoarse whisper, "Am I done being punished?" _

"_What?" Egin asked._

"_For not dying with Mommy and Daddy," Rene clarified._

_For a moment Egin looked shocked then his expression hardened. "No, your punishment has only begun."_

Yukio shoved himself away from the computer screen. For a moment he heard Rin protesting that he hadn't killed Shiro.

'It wasn't like that,' Yukio protested. 'I didn't have a choice. It was the only way I could think to protect Rin. He's so stubborn and reckless. I didn't do it to hurt him.'

But the video stuck with Yukio all through the day. Rene's eyes had been so clearly shown. The left being physically burned away with agonizing slowness, while hope and life died out of the right eye, leaving it physically intact but equally empty.

* * *

When Yukio arrived at the Facility he found Rene all but recovered from his near fatal allergic reaction. He was sitting up in bed chattering cheerfully when Yukio walked into the infirmary. "Anaphylactic shock due to good old PB&J!" Rene said gleefully. "That would have been the perfect way to go out. I don't think I'm ever going to forgive you for bringing me back Saul."

Rene turned to Yukio. "Did Grandfather really come down to check on me?"

"He came," Yukio said quietly.

"Well, I shouldn't make too much of it," Rene told himself. He shrugged and turned back to Yukio "Probably just reflex. Grandfather was babysitting the first time I had a really bad allergic reaction. We knew I was allergic but before that it had been just hives and getting itchy. The restaurant we were at got my order mixed up, gave me a peanut sauce. I almost died."

"After that Grandfather was the one who was always obsessing about my epipen. He went on the warpath and got the school to ban peanuts from the campus because the school should be a safe place for me." Absently Rene touched his scarred cheek. "How times change… He really came?"

The wistful hope in Rene's voice eradicated the any equilibrium that Yukio had left after seeing what their grandfather had done to Rene. The intense un-ease he was feeling didn't abate as he prepared for bed.

_Rin burned with Satan's blue flames. The flames coalesced into horns on his head. They highlighted his pointed ears, his fangs and danced around his tail like fairy-lights. "I'm still your brother. You still love me don't you?" Rin asked plaintively._

_Yukio was frozen, he couldn't answer._

_Then the flames began to consume Rin. Yukio wanted, desperately to go to him, to help but his body wouldn't move. Rin fell to the ground, writhing in pain, screaming. His brother was burning alive right in front of him and Yukio could only stand there and watch._

_After what seemed like an eternity the flames burned themselves out. They left behind a charred, twisted corpse. Yukio felt tears running down his cheek but he still couldn't move._

_Rin's electric blue eyes popped open. His gaze fixed on Yukio as he started dragging his charred body across the ground toward him. Rin pulled himself up on Yukio's body until he could drape his scorched arms over Yukio's shoulders in a parody of a hug. Yukio felt like he should collapse under the weight of Rin's body and the stench of burnt flesh was suffocating. Rin's cheek was rough and felt like charcoal as he nuzzled Yukio's throat affectionately. _

"_I'd let you do anything to me if you'd just promise to love me again."_

Yukio woke up gasping for air, his heart pounding madly against his ribs.

Even though dawn was still hours away Yukio knew he wouldn't be getting any more sleep that night so he got dressed and headed for the library.

The widely spaced street lamps created path of bread crumbs, isolated pools of light leading across the campus. Knowing better than most what lurked in the darkness, Yukio's hand strayed toward the grip of his pistol.

A long wailing cry echoed between the buildings and Yukio saw a woman in a long white dress approaching him. He let his hand fall away from his gun and straightened, guns were no good against spirits. "La Llorona, what is your business here?" he demanded sternly.

The spirit turned and stared at him for a long moment. "You've seen them, the stolen children. I must find them. Where are the stolen children?"

"You murdered your children," Yukio told her coldly.

"The stolen children, I must find the stolen children. She will grant me clemency if I find the stolen children," La Llorona said. She started toward Yukio threateningly. "You've seen them, I can sense them on you. Take me to the stolen children. I must find them."

"Your children are dead. You murdered them," Yukio repeated in a tone the wouldn't be questioned. "They weren't stolen. You took them to the river and drowned them."

"I'll be forgiven if I find the stolen children," La Llorona insisted. "There are so many of them, so many stolen children, so many murdered children. I hear them crying, so many children crying out. Stolen, murdered, unloved. So many, all here. I must find them. You saw them. Take me to the children."

Yukio stumbled back suddenly realizing that she wasn't looking for her own murdered children but the demon-children used as test subjects by the Facility. At his faltering La Llorona grew more confident. She reached for him threateningly. "You will take me to the children."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Yukio lied.

His feet kicked as the phantom woman lifted him from ground, her icy fingers tight around his throat. "The stolen children. You've seen them."

"They aren't your children, La Llorona," Yukio wheezed. He grabbed her wrist with both his hands.

"Take me to the stolen children," La Llorona demanded. "She'll grant me clemency."

"Does it matter?" Yukio choked out, regaining some of his poise, even hanging in the air. "'She' may forgive you, but will you ever forgive yourself for murdering your children?"

La Llorona turned her head away, Yukio saw tears glittering on her cheeks. A moment later he tumbled to the ground as the spectre vanished. He took a shaky breath and rubbed his throat, her hands had left frostbite where she'd touched him. Slowly he got off the ground and hurried onward.


	6. Heartache

**Stare into the Abyss**

**Disclaimer:** Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit horror.

**Chapter Five: Heartache**

A few weeks after the incident with the La Llorona Yukio was ready to test his theories about severing a demon from Gehenna. He told the guard to bring one of his subjects up to the Infirmary then watched in dismay as a kicking, fighting screaming child was hauled into the room and forced into the restraints. "Little beast wouldn't let go of a stupid bundle of rags," the guard said as he finished securing the girl with the scales.

"That was her doll," Yukio snapped.

The guard gave Yukio a disgusted look. "It's a demon, not a kid," he said over the girl's furious howls. "And it's your problem now."

"Fine," Yukio said flatly, "Watch how you solve a problem." He stalked out the door, down to the cages and angrily demanded to be let in. He found the bundle of rags torn and scattered across the cell from having been ripped out of the little girl's hands. He quickly collect up the remnants. Back in the infirmary Yukio used some twine to reshape them into a vaguely human semblance and handed the remade bundle to shrieking child. The restraints kept her from hugging the doll to her but she clutched it tightly and quieted. Yukio turned to the guard, "Next time, just do your job, don't make a point of antagonizing my subjects."

Once the guard had left Yukio turned to the girl who was watching him suspiciously. "Now, I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "I'm going to draw some pictures on your stomach. You can hold your doll while I do."

The girl narrowed her eyes at him, "Cry, Baby, Cry. Put your finger in your eye. And tell your mother it wasn't I," she declared.

"I won't hurt you," Yukio repeated. He set out a diagram of the sigil he'd developed, a pot of freshly brewed sealing ink and set to work. When he was finished the sigil glowed for a moment, the scaly texture of the girl's skin softened but her eyes retained their slit pupils. "Well, it's a start," Yukio sighed.

* * *

A week later he watched as the last of the seal faded away and the girl's original appearance completely reasserted itself. "That's all for today," he told the guard, a different guard tiredly.

"Which one do you want next?" the guard asked.

"Indigo," Yukio decided.

The guard stared at him blankly.

"The one with the purple horns, Indigo," Yukio explained.

"554," Saul corrected and clarified. The guard left taking the girl with him. Saul turned to Yukio. "Don't name them," he said. "They aren't pets."

"I know what they are," Yukio replied unphased. "And I don't need psychological tricks to get by. I believe in what I'm doing."

* * *

As Yukio prepared to leave that evening Rene slipped into the elevator along with him and punched the button for the level with the small balcony where Yukio had first seen him. Since then Yukio had learned that it was the only outdoor area that Rene had permission to visit.

Rene noticed a bandage on Yukio's hand. "What happened?" he asked.

"Leo bit me while I was undoing his restraints," Yuko replied.

"Another of your subjects?" Rene asked with a smile. "I heard you got in trouble for naming them."

"More of a scolding," Yukio replied as they found a spot on the balcony where they could enjoy the last light of the day.

"So, what are their names?" Rene asked eagerly.

"The felinoid twins are Leo and Felix." Yukio gestured with his hand. "Leo is the more aggressive twin. Indigo is the boy with purple horns. Meda is the girl with scales. And Kit is the fox-toddler. I need to look up some pediatric information," Yukio added to himself. "I think Kit's too skinny but I don't really know anything about two-year-olds."

"Kit for Kitsune and Meda for Medusa? You're not very imaginative are you?" Rene asked teasingly.

Yukio sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Not particularly."

"They're nice names," Rene apologized. "Like we're real people."

"Well, I thought it would be good to start getting them used to answering to names before I find a way to make them human," Yukio justified feeling embarrassed by the gratitude in Rene's eyes.

"The older kids are probably eating your Kit's food before he can get to it," Rene volunteered.

"Yeah, that was what I was thinking too," Yukio agreed

"It's not because they're demons," Rene qualified quickly. "Nobody teaches them any better."

"I know," Yukio said with grimace, thinking of his first few years in school. Seeing things no one else could might have been what caused him to be a favorite target with bullies, but ultimately it hadn't been the demons who had tormented him for most of his childhood.

That night Yukio detoured to a grocery store on the back to his dorm room and bought a bottle and a can of formula. Kit was a little old for bottles but it was balanced nutrition and he wasn't _that _much more than a baby.

* * *

Kit giggled squirmed while Yukio painted seals on his stomach. Yukio smiled a little at the fox-eared toddler. The older four were still deeply suspicious of Yukio but a few bottles had been enough to win the littlest of Yukio's subjects over.

"Be still or you'll mess up my picture," Yukio told him and waited holding the brush at ready. He knew that using the restraints would make things go faster, but they didn't really fit the tiny toddler and Yukio didn't really mind the delay. Once Kit's curiosity caused him to hold still just to see what Yukio would do, Yukio painted a few more lines. Which started Kit giggling again. Then Yukio would wait until he grew still again. Turning the whole thing into a bit of a game between them.

Saul shook his head disapprovingly. "How I run my project is my own business," Yukio stated. "You're friendly with Rene."

"I knew 106 while he was still human. And he doesn't bite," Saul said.

"Neither does Kit anymore," Yukio replied.

"You'll end up regretting it," Saul warned.

Yukio finished the seal, he smiled as Kit's eyes stopped glowing although his ears didn't change. He picked the toddler up and handed him his bottle. Kit eagerly sucked it down while Yukio carried him back to the cages.

* * *

When Yukio arrived in the Infirmary almost three months after he'd began his tests he found Felix lying on his stomach on one of the tables. A quick glance told Yukio that his seal was still holding, there wasn't any fur on his skin and Felix's ears were only moderately pointed. However five sets of thick black stitches adorned the boy's shoulder. "What happened?" Yukio asked as he rested a comforting hand on the four-year-old's other arm.

"Apparently your seals are working," Saul replied. "He must have seemed human to the other little beasts and they turned on 604."

Yukio bit his lip. "Maybe I should get them a real room for when they're sealed. Hopefully the seals will keep lasting longer and longer. It doesn't look like his have degraded at all and it's almost a month old. Of course there's still obvious leakage but I'm working on that."

Saul shrugged. "I'll see about getting a second cell assigned to your project," he said.

As soon as he was done checking Felix's condition Yukio headed down to the cages to check the rest of his subjects. His project had advanced far enough that it was normal for all five of his subject to have some level of seal on them now. If one of them had reverted and attacked the others Yukio couldn't think of any reason why they'd only go after Felix.

The moment the guard let him into the hall with the cells Yukio heard inconsolable sobbing. Rene was sitting cross-legged on the floor in the cage where Yukio's subjects were kept. Leo was curled up in the older demon's lap, face buried against Rene's shoulder, the little boy's whole frame was shaking with sobs.

Rene glanced up as Yukio came in and gave him a sad look.

As soon as Yukio walked into the cell Indigo and Meda immediately retreated to furthest corner, but Kit latched on Yukio's leg and grinned toothily up at him. Absently Yukio patted Kit's head.

"Leo's seal broke while he and Felix were rough-housing, Felix's didn't," Rene explained. "He's been a little bit better since I cleaned the blood off him but, well, he's gonna cry himself sick at this rate. You think maybe you could find a reason to get him up to the Infirmary? I think it'd help a lot if he could see that his twin's going to be okay."

For a moment Yukio wanted to refuse. He remembered Rin crying like that after he'd accidentally broken several of Father Shiro's ribs when he'd been six, but obviously Rin hadn't felt bad enough because if he had he would have done what he was told when his powers started overwhelming their seal and Shiro wouldn't have died.

Then Yukio sighed, punishing Leo for things Rin had done was pointless. Normally the four-year-old twins were about equal and wrestling with each other was how they entertained themselves in the barren cell. It was Yukio's fault more than Leo's that the seal hadn't held when the little boy became too excited.

"Well, I obviously need to apply a new seal don't I?" Yukio said as he shooed Kit away. "It'll be your turn next," He told the toddler.

Rene smiled in relief. "See, I told you he'd let you see your twin," he told Leo, using the fluffy end of his tail to blot Leo's tears.

"For some reason Leo and Meda always burn through their seals faster than the other three," Yukio commented. Rene went to stand, picking Leo up as he did only his legs went out from under him. Yukio grabbed Rene and guided him back to the floor. "You okay?"

"Been sitting here too long I guess," Rene said. "My legs are asleep."

Yukio reached out to take Leo and the little boy cringed away, baring his fangs. "Be nice," Rene scolded. "He's taking you to your twin." Leo squirmed around so he could stare into Rene's eyes for several moments then he relaxed and let Yukio pick him up.

Rene spent a minute rubbing feeling back into his legs before he tried standing again. He swayed dangerously. Yukio transferred Leo to his right arm and offered Rene a steadying hand. "You sure you're okay?" he asked.

"I may not have thrown up breakfast," Rene admitted with a small shrug. "The Infirmary was a bit chaotic between this little scuffle and a new munitions test. I slipped out to check on the kiddies before anyone remembered my ipecac."

Yukio scowled. "That could kill you," he said.

Rene shrugged as he let Yukio drag him off in the direction of the Infirmary. "Well, dying of plain old demon-poison would be sort of boring given how much I've taken over the years. And I'm less tired of this place since you started hanging around, but I was curious if I'm building up an immunity, like in 'Princess Bride'. Man I haven't seen any movies in so long."

"Don't try to evade treatment and I'll sneak some in," Yukio bargained. "I'll bet there are some empty offices in the middle of the night, we could borrow a computer."

"Like a sleep-over," Rene replied grinning. "We should swipe a laptop and show the kiddies, it'd blow their minds." As they reached the infirmary door he grinned and made a silencing gesture.

Saul sighed at the sight of the three of them.

"He ditched treatment this morning," Yukio said letting Rene stumble toward the nearest bed. Then he put Leo on the bed next to Felix.

Saul's expression became serious. "Breakfast at eight?" he asked Rene.

"As always," Rene replied.

The doctor pulled up Rene's records and read through the latest round of experiments. "It's well absorbed into your system by now. There's nothing we can do but ride it out." He shook his head. "You're not dead already and that's always a good sign."

"Grandfather would disagree," Rene argued. "I should have died in the wreck, remember?"

Yukio turned his back on Leo to go get his sealing supplies. In a flash the little boy hopped off the table and ran around to where he could see his twin's face. Tentatively he reached up and patted Felix's hair. Felix smiled tiredly at Leo, no hard feelings.

* * *

Rene spent the next week in the Infirmary recovering from the poisons he'd absorbed. By the second day he'd lost sensation in his extremities and Saul was worried about his breathing. He rallied three days later and it seemed like he'd make a full recovery.

Yukio volunteered to watch Rene overnight on the sixth night of his stay in the Infirmary and snuck in the promised movies. Getting down to the fifth level to show the kids turned out to be impossible to pull off but they piled spare blankets on the floor of Yukio's office and moved his computer so they could use it as a TV screen.

When Rene saw the selection of titles he tackled Yukio, hugging him enthusiastically. "I didn't think I was ever going to find out how this ended!" he exclaimed pulling out DVD's of the last four Harry Potter movies. "Can you get me the last book? Please, please pretty please?"

Yukio laughed. "Are you really twenty?" he asked.

Rene thought for a moment, "Am I?" he asked. "I mean the days all sort of blur in here. Even if I were the type to make scratch marks on the wall of my cell… well honestly I spend enough days delirious that the count would be all off. Saul made me start shaving… quite a while back. I guess I could be twenty."

"It's 2014," Yukio said softly.

Rene thought for a moment. "I'm not a teenager anymore, that is a really weird thought," he announced. Rene shook himself as if shaking off the realization. "Movies!" he exclaimed.

After the first two movies were finished they headed down to the breakroom to make more popcorn. "So um, no more skipping treatment? You promise?" Yukio asked uncertainly. "I mean, I know it's bad, really bad here but they're scare to kill you in case Grandfather cares and I'm making progress on my project."

"You know, the Facility won't let you do everyone," Rene warned. "I mean what would this place be without test subjects?"

Yukio straightened and stared at Rene. It made sense now that Rene had said it, but somehow it had never occurred to Yukio that the Facility wouldn't want all their test subjects suddenly turned human.

After a time he said, "Grandfather will let me make you human again. He said as much."

Rene's nose wrinkled up.

"You wouldn't want that?" Yukio asked in surprise.

"I wish my demon-blood had never awakened," Rene replied. "I wish Mommy and Daddy hadn't died. I wish I had both my eyes. But if I turned human again and Grandfather loved me again… I think I'd have to go away. I'd never want to see him again."

"Why?" Yukio asked.

Rene sighed, "It's not my fault I was born this way, you know that right? I didn't choose for my mother to be half-demon. I didn't make the car crash. I didn't ask to survive the wreck."

Yukio found he couldn't meet Rene's eye. He heard the echo of Rin protesting the confession he'd forced on his twin in an effort to use guilt to make Rin more pliable.

Rene stood up angrily. "I didn't do anything!" he exclaimed. "If I changed it's because of you Exorcists. How could I not change?" He gestured to to his missing eye. "I wanted to be an astronaut not a guinea pig."

Yukio caught Rene's arm before he could storm off. "It's not that," he said quickly. Then thinking back on everything Rene had said he asked. "You're only a quarter demon?"

"Most of the subjects are quarts," Rene said crossly. "Definitely all of the girls that get used in the tests."

And Yukio's cover suddenly became his top-most concern. "But… that's less demon blood than I have," he whispered.

"I told you you were in the wrong place," Rene said. The tension in his frame faded and he leaned back against Yukio. "I think Grandfather must have failed biology."

That startled a laugh out of Yukio.

Rene grinned, he looped his tail around Yukio's waist. "He thinks this makes all the difference. I didn't make it out of 6th grade but I already know that's not how it works."

"Did your dad seal your powers?" Yukio asked. "I can't imagine Grandfather doing it, he would have thrown you in here as soon as he saw demon features."

Rene shrugged. "I don't know, I always thought I was born human."

"You couldn't have been," Yukio argued. "Recessive traits don't just turn dominant. My father, Shiro, repressed Rin's powers so he looked human, but he was born with demon traits and I was born human."

"Maybe," Rene said. "It'd be kind cool actually if Daddy did defy Grandfather for me. I always thought he was scared to do anything Grandfather didn't like."

"If I did figure out how to sever your connection to Gehenna and get rid of that," Yukio said gently disentangling himself from Rene's tail. "Why wouldn't you want to see Grandfather anymore? I thought you still wanted him to care about you?"

"I know you're a protege or something," Rene said with a sigh. "But sometimes you can be really dense. I've been good. All these years, everything that's been done to me, I never hurt anyone. If Grandfather would see that, see that my demon-blood didn't make me evil… That would be something. But if you turn me human again and he cares again?" Rene shook his head. "I'm still me. Tail or no tail I'm still me. I'm still the same person he tried to save from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And even if you make me human again I'll still be the same person whose eye he put out. If he can't see that… Well, I don't want someone who only cares about whether or not I have a tail."

* * *

_Smiling broadly Yukio took Rin by the shoulders and turned him toward the bathroom mirror. He gently brushed Rin's hair back behind a rounded, human ear. Rin's eyes widened in disbelief, he leaned forward and opened his mouth wide. Then, not believing his eyes he ran his fingers over his small, completely unremarkable incisors. Rin twisted around looking for his tail. _

_Then he turned and looked at Yukio with wonder in his eyes. "I'm human? How? Dad said I'd never be human again if I drew Kurikara."_

"_Your powers came from Gehenna, the Koma Sword was used to contain them, attenuate them enough to allow you to control them. The sheath sealed them but it wasn't strong enough. Your powers started leaking past the seal, then you broke it by drawing the sword. The sheath continued to mute your powers but they were still there. I found a way to completely break the connection between you and Gehenna. You're truly human now."_

"_Oh man, that's, that's unbelievable Yukio. Thanks." Rin exclaimed._

"_Hey Okumura, we're going," Surugo called from outside of the dorm. _

"_Yeah, I'm coming. Keep your pants on!" Rin shouted back. He hugged Yukio impulsively. "I didn't even let myself hope I could ever be human again," he said. _

"_Where are you going?" Yukio asked._

"_Well, I've still gotta kick Satan's ass," Rin said looking confused that Yukio even needed to ask. "He killed Dad and wrecked Bon's temple and well, he's Satan ya know. Did you think I was just gonna forgive him because you made it so he's not my father any more?" _

Yukio woke up screaming for Rin not to go. He sighed, another night where sleep wasn't going to be much of an option. Right after that dream he wasn't particularly eager to spend time researching sealing either. Instead he spent several hours writing another round of letters to everyone in Japan who might be persuaded to tell him about Rin. He even wrote Shiemi's mother; Yukio was pretty sure she'd talk to him and she might have a little second-hand gossip about the Exwire class.

When he couldn't think of anyone else to write, Yukio headed for the computer lab to try to hack the True Cross records again. Even if he couldn't get into the student email maybe he could still get into the gradebooks, most of the instructor had been terrible about computer security. Adachi-sensei in particular, he kept a note with his password under the keyboard in the faculty room and he always used the same password, just increasing the number by one every time he had to change it.

Yukio calculated how many times Adachi would have had to change his password since the last time Yukio had dusted around the faculty room and stubbled across Adachi's reminder, then he typed the password in. Rin had come out of the coma and it seemed he was as sane as he'd ever been. While Rin might not have been enrolled in the True Cross Academy's regular classes, he was still in the Cram School. Yukio found himself smiling a little to himself as he skimmed through Rin's grades. Apparently he was doing better at in school than he'd ever done before in his life: mostly B's with a few slips into C's. 'Maybe Rin dropped out of his regular classes to concentrate more on his Exorcist studies,' Yukio thought. But Rin was doing okay, going by his class-work better than he'd ever done when Yukio had been around.

Of course there was no one to stop Rin from doing stupid, risky things anymore either, his friends certainly wouldn't. The Grigori would order them into hell and whole idealistic, foolish, childish lot of them would go; marching into hell believing that good intentions and friendship would bring them back out. And then they'd all die and even if Yukio could find a way to make Rin human again he still wouldn't be able to save him. Because Rin was Rin, just like Rene was and always would be Rene. Before the Koma Sword had been drawn Rin had always been the first one to rush into trouble and even if Yukio sealed Rin's demon-blood away forever Rin would never choose the prudent path. The world was a dangerous place and Rin would always put himself in harm's way if it meant keeping someone safe.

Yukio headed back to his dorm just as dawn was breaking. On his way he ran into Shura. From the look of her, Yukio could guess that she was on her way home from a bar. "What's got you up so early?" she asked.

"I could say the same," Yukio replied avoiding the question.

"Oh, but I'm up late," Shura grinned. "This is a perfectly normal time to be hitting the sack, not getting up from it." Shura braced her hands on Yukio's shoulders and went up on her toes to squint at him. "Ya look like hell… which is getting to be your normal state." She grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him off. "Come on, you're gonna tell me about what's wrong if I have to beat it out of you."

Three hours later the two of them were dripping with sweat, standing in one of the True Cross' practice 'batting-cages' "You owe me lunch," Shura declared grinning toothily. "Make it brunch and you can take care of the debt right now."

"That was cheating," Yukio stated coldly.

"What, speculating on what was getting under your skin?" Shura asked. "If I can get to you, what do you think a demon could do. So why don't you talk to me about it, what is it about your brother that's got you worked up now?"

Yukio sat down and and started cleaning his guns. "Just a nightmare, I dreamed Rin was human again, no powers, nothing, he could have had a normal life. Instead he went off to fight Satan with his stupid friends anyway."

"That what your brother's really like?" Shura asked curiously. "Sounds like my kind of kid."

Yukio leaned back against the wall, he took off his glasses and mopped the sweat off his brow. "Yeah, that' s Rin, not a lick of sense." To Yukio's surprise he felt a smile tugging at his lips. "He just wants to do the right thing. Completely, unbelievably naive... And he inherits Satan's flames somehow. He makes you love him even while he rips out your heart because any realistic person knows he's going to come to a bad end."


	7. Probabilities

**Stare into the Abyss**

**Disclaimer:** Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit horror.

**Chapter Six: Probabilities**

Saul watched with a dubious expression as Yukio loaded Rene's arms with a scale and measuring sticks, a thermometer and a pen light.

"You said our role was to keep the subjects alive when possible," Yukio said defensively. "Kit was underweight and he's probably not the only one."

"So we're giving everyone on level five a physical," Rene chimed in. "Don't worry, the kiddies like me. I'll get 'em to behave for him."

"If I had the guards drag them all up here I'd have to spend the whole week dealing with screaming brats and sulking guards," Yukio added. "I'll write you a report on what I find but don't be surprised if I order a few crates of formula. My bunch don't swipe bottles from Kit."

"You're getting too attached," Saul said with a shake of his head. "A researcher has to remain objective."

"Did I seem to be having problems with the autopsy yesterday? Or the amputation?" Yukio asked flatly.

"They weren't the subjects in your study," Saul pointed out.

"Do malnourished subjects provide representative data for the Facility's tests?" Yukio asked rhetorically. "I'm just doing my job, I don't know what your problem is."

"Kids," Saul sighed as he watched Yukio collect Rene with glance and sweep out. "Always have to learn the hard way."

* * *

By the end of his shift Yukio had check just over a tenth of the demon children on level five. Before he and Rene left he stopped by to deliver Kit's bottle and look at the seals on all five of his subjects.

As soon as Yukio opened the door Kit ran to him stretching up his arms. Yukio sat on the lower bunk and pulled Kit into his lap then handed the toddler his bottle.

Felix and Leo leapt on Rene and tried to drag him into their wrestling match. Rene braced himself as Leo scrambled up to hang from his neck while Felix hugged the older demon around the knees.

Indigo wrinkled his nose at them and went to sit on the far side of the cell. Meda retreated with her rag-doll to the upper bunk.

"Have you ever noticed how odd the population distribution among the subjects is?" Yukio asked Rene.

Rene shrugged and looked away.

"I'd think the Facility raided some sort of demon nursery school for it's subjects if such a thing existed." Yukio continued.

"Could we talk about something else?" Rene asked tersely.

"Come when you're called. Do what you're bid. Shut the door after you. Never be chid," Meda told Rene scornfully.

He smiled up at her. "I've still got one eye that I don't really need, but I'd like to keep it all the same."

Meda sniffed at him then leaned over the edge of the bunk bed to peer at Yukio. "There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children, she didn't know what to do. She fed them broth without any bread; And whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed," she informed him. Then she glared at him imperiously, "Find our bed. On your way home turn toward the dying light, the mournful tree marks the secret path. Show the weepers the way."

* * *

The next night after finishing his shift, Yukio was making his weekly formula stop when a feeling of foreboding struck. He turned and saw Shura peering into his shopping basket intently. As soon as she saw him looking back a massively amused grin spread across her face. Yukio considered shooting himself, or maybe Shura, in the foot to distract her. 'It would only delay the inevitable,' he concluded with a sigh.

"If you'd been in the country for more than nine months I'd ask if you'd gotten a girl in trouble," Shura remarked reaching for Kit's formula.

Yukio swung the basket out of her reach and glared. "Do you have the slightest concept of minding one's own business?" he asked.

Shura tapped her chin thoughtfully. "'Course you are anal to the nth degree. Planning ahead?" she asked. "Although you'd want this," she pointed to the newborn formulation, "not the toddler stuff."

Yukio irritably turned his back on Shura and started for the register.

Shura caught his collar and dragged back. "Naw, I can't see it. You're too uptight to have gotten laid."

"Presuming I had gotten a girl pregnant, which I haven't," Yukio added in case the point needed clarification. "I'd hardly be relaxed about it."

Shura laughed, "Nope, there still would have been a period of loosening up, I would have remembered. When a pink polka-dotted leprechaun does a tap-dance on your kitchen table you remember, and you being relaxed would be even more remarkable."

"Then maybe I'm doing a favor for a friend," Yukio sighed.

"I'm the only friend you've got and I know all about safe sex," Shura said, dismissing that possibility. "That's pretty sad now that I think about it. Wimpy Four-eyes, you are way too young to be such a stick-in-the-mud."

"Since when are you my friend?" Yukio asked. "I've always thought of you as more of a thorn in my side."

Shura took a moment to pout at him then her evil grin asserted itself again. "I know! Little Yuki-chan is finally trying his hand at courting. Trust me, flowers will work better." She fanned a handful of condoms in his face and added. "Use these properly and you won't need the baby formula."

"You are the most obnoxious, crude, inappropriate person it has ever been my displeasure to meet," Yukio interjected.

"If ya don't know how they work I could give ya a tutorial," Shura continued undeterred.

"And I am counting the demons!" Yukio added forcefully. He ducked out from under Shura's arm and stomped off to the register, Shura's laughter trailed after him.

* * *

Friday night Yukio smiled when he saw Rene sitting the ledge of the terrace where he'd first met his cousin. He quickly shed his lab jacket and went out to join the one-eyed demon for the sunset.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Yukio asked.

Rene leaned back until he was looking at Yukio upside down, his legs still dangling over the sheer drop to the base of Corcovado mountain two thousand feet below. "Didn't die today," Rene replied. "How about you?"

"Well, I didn't die either," Yukio replied with a small smile. He took a seat on the bench inside the wall. "I even managed to collect data on Leo without getting bitten in the process. His seals are decaying again unfortunately."

Rene swung his legs back over the wall and he leaned forward and smiled up at Yukio, "I'm very impressed, Leo thinks you make funny faces when he bites you." Then Rene shifted to sit on the deck at Yukio's feet. He looked out at the pink and purple clouds obscuring the horizon and said, "Indigo is turning six tomorrow, that's when the Facility says we're strong enough for fatalities to provide meaningful comparisons with wild demons. He's slated to move to gas testing. You probably won't see him again."

Yukio couldn't say anything. He bit his lip and stared out at the sunset with Rene while trying not to think about the untrusting little boy with horns who liked to use his and his cellmate's food bowls for stacking blocks.

Rene lost interest in the sunset, he tilted his head back to stare at Yukio instead. Impulsively he twisted around, coming up to his knees and kissed Yukio sloppily. Yukio drew back in shock at the wet feel of another mouth on his.

Rene flinched. "Isn't that what you do with a demon you like?" he asked sounding years younger than his actual age. His tail that had begun to uncurl from his leg drooped. "Or is that just girl demons."

Yukio reached out and caught Rene's arm before he could withdraw completely. "No, yes, I mean no that's not how cousins show they like each other, but yes I like you." He threaded his fingers through Rene's hair and tugged him forward until his head was tucked beneath Yukio's chin while gently running his other hand down the prominent ridge of Rene's spine in a comforting gesture.

After a bit Rene relaxed into the embrace and for a moment Yukio felt like he had his brother back. Like it was Rin huddled in his arms after one of the immersion treatments. "I'd forgotten this," Rene murmured into Yukio's shoulder. "It's a hug right?"

* * *

_Yukio woke up beside Rin in the tiny apartment they shared. A shaft of moonlight had snuck in past the heavy drapes that ensured nosy neighbors would never realize that Yukio didn't live alone. It illuminated Rin's alabaster skin and turned his hair an inky black. The blue highlights Rin used to get from being in the sun were a distant memory. It had been over a decade since Rin had been outside, or awake. _

_Over the years Rin's body had become very slim and frail in appearance, but Yukio's conscientious efforts had kept his limbs from withering completely due to lack of use. Seeing him practically glowing in the moonlight Yukio realized Rin was beautiful. He had always been the most important person in Yukio's life, now by necessity he was the only person in Yukio's life. Letting anyone else get close meant risking Rin being discovered and taken away. And nothing was worth that risk._

_Almost without thinking about it Yukio leaned over and kissed Rin. His twin's mouth was soft and pliable beneath his. Yukio rolled over so he was laying half on top of Rin and deepened the kiss, exploring Rin's lax mouth with his tongue. He reached out to tangle his fingers with Rin's only to brush against the IV stuck into the back of Rin's hand. Yukio drew back, 'What am I doing? Rin's my twin.' Still he couldn't take his eyes off Rin. _

_Yukio was approaching thirty and he'd never so much as gone on a date. Rin and protecting Rin had always been more important. Rin was absolutely everything to Yukio, all his life, for as long as he could remember, everything he'd done had been for Rin. He watched his fingers sneak out to trace Rin's lips, his breath caught as Rin's lips parted welcomingly at his touch. He pressed forward into the moist heat, his eyes closed and a soft moan escaped him, the sight of two of his fingers sliding in and out of Rin's mouth was unbearably erotic. Yukio couldn't remember the last time he'd been this turned on._

_He peeled back the tape securing the IV to the back of Rin's hand and smoothly withdrew the needle. A single drop of blood beaded up at the exit site. Yukio leaned forward and soothed away the small hurt with his tongue. The taste of Rin's blood, Rin's skin; metallic, oddly sweet with faint tingling aftertaste from the cocktail of drugs running through his veins; made Yukio's head spin._

_He opened the top button on Rin's pajamas exposing the delicate hollow of his throat to the moonlight. The second button revealed the graceful arch of his clavicle, Yukio traced his fingers and then his tongue along the gentle curve of it. After the third button Yukio had to stop for several minutes to play with Rin's nipples, licking them then blowing cold air over them to watch them tighten. Then the top of the pajamas was completely undone, Yukio pushed the dark material back to frame Rin's slim, pale chest. Rin hadn't gained any body hair since he'd been fifteen, if anything the loss of muscle tone made Rin look younger._

_Yukio's hands hesitated at the waistband of Rin's pajama bottoms. He could feel his face heating up. Rin's catheter had to come out, there was even more chance of it causing harm than the IV. Yukio had done it hundreds of times before, he'd been taking care of his comatosed twin for twelve years after all. There'd been a time Yukio had wanted to be a doctor, tending to Rin's bodily needs was nothing that could embarrass him. If anything Yukio was more familiar with Rin's body than with his own. But this was entirely different, for all the times he'd bathed, massaged, handled every last inch of Rin's body, Yukio had never before touched him with desire. _

_His hands shook, his face burned, Yukio wasn't certain he could do it without hurting Rin. He'd never hurt Rin, he had sworn to protect Rin, to do anything to keep Rin safe. But he couldn't stop, he needed Rin, needed Rin's skin flush against his. Rin was so helpless, he'd never been able to take care of himself. Even when Rin had wanted to protect the whole world, he'd never been able to protect himself. Rin couldn't survive without a care-taker, Yukio had to take care of Rin. It was his only reason for existing. It had been so long since Yukio had connected with anyone. He wasn't sure he ever had. There was only Rin, had only ever been Rin. Through sheer willpower Yukio forced his hands to steady, he bit his lip until he tasted his own blood. He delicately took Rin's soft cock in hand, removed the catheter and set it aside, then modestly pulled Rin's pants back into place, face still burning with embarrassment. _

_Yukio scooted back up to cradle Rin's face between his hands. He crouched over Rin, balancing on knees and elbows as he leaned down to kiss Rin's forehead, the lids of his eyes, the tip of his nose, before allowing himself to fully explore Rin's mouth. He licked and bit at Rin's lips, tilted his head back to get better access before thrusting his tongue deep inside. Yukio pressed deep, open mouthed kisses on Rin, drinking the breath from Rin's lungs until he was drunk with arousal. _

_He sank down on Rin, a slight squirm and Rin's legs parted to let him settle between them. His painfully hard cock, fitting naturally into the crease at the top of Rin's leg. Yukio groaned as he pressed down against Rin's warm, pliant flesh. The friction of their pajama bottoms against Yukio's erection was almost painful, but so very, very good. He could have sworn he felt the pulse of Rin's femoral artery speed up enticingly in response to his attentions._

_Yukio drew back for a moment. Rin's lips were reddened and glossy from their earlier kisses. His hair which Yukio normally kept neatly combed had been disarrayed, Rin looked more alive than he had in years. Yukio groaned, and dove back in to claim Rin's mouth again. He slid his hands beneath Rin to grasp his hips and pressed him up into Yukio's erection. Yukio's back arched, he whimpered as he came. Then collapsed back onto Rin, hugging his twin to him and sobbing softly._

Yukio woke up to wet clammy pajama bottoms that didn't simply disappear into the ether to be forgotten like the dream that caused them. He didn't remember the dream, Yukio told himself firmly. That wouldn't have happened no matter how long caring for Rin isolated him from human contact. It was just Rene's inappropriate kiss putting weird ideas in his head.

'Where had Rene gotten the idea to do that?' Yukio wondered. His cousin was technically older than him, older by years rather than the minutes that made Rin the older brother, but it was still a technicality only. That kiss, Rene might have been twenty years old, but that kiss had been like a little kid imitating something he'd seen with no comprehension of what it meant.

'It wouldn't have happened,' Yukio told himself. 'Rene just looked so much like Rin and no one had ever kissed him before.'

Still Yukio couldn't get rid of the nagging voice that told him to be thankful that his plan had gotten derailed and that Mephisto had sent him away from Rin before he'd utterly destroyed both of them.


	8. Face the Music

**Stare into the Abyss**

**Disclaimer:** Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit horror.

**Chapter Seven: Face the Music**

Yukio rubbed his temples tiredly. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a good night's sleep. His dreams alternated between having sex with Rin and ones where he twin was dying as one of the Facility's subjects. The most recent dream; as if in revenge for Yukio's attempt to decide which of the two reoccurring dreams disturbed him more; had mixed them together into a horrific scenario he loathed his subconscious for producing. 'Impossible, ludacris… thank God Rin's not a girl and that could never happen,' Yukio thought. 'I blame Shura for bringing up the subject in the first place.'

He shut his eyes for a moment before asking a guard to bring Meda up to the Infirmary. She'd been singing "Ladybug, ladybug" for weeks now, ever since Indigo had been taken away. Yukio was reasonably certain it was her erstwhile cellmate she was commanding him to rescue and not a warning that Rin was in trouble back in Japan but neither option was comfortable to think on.

He had four months left to find a way to sever a demon from Gehenna before Meda turned six. He hadn't been able to bring himself to name Indigo's replacement, a green-skinned three-year-old, yet.

Yukio let his head rest on his desk until he heard the elevator arrive. Meda walked regally into the infirmary, the guard trailing behind her. "Who killed Cock Robin? I said the sparrow, with my bow and arrow. I killed Cock Robin," she sang. Meda turned to stare at Yukio. "Who caught his blood? I said the fish, with my little dish. I caught his blood. Who'll be the chief mourner?... It's time to fetch the weepers to his bed." she said.

"Up on the table Meda," Yukio sighed. "It looks like your seal is holding. This shouldn't take long."

Saul glanced up. "When you're done with her could you take care of the autopsy?" he asked.

"Sure," Yukio replied without enthusiasm. "Which division brought the body in?"

"Gas."

Yukio nodded absently as he checked Meda's seal and made several notes about the repression of her demon traits. When he was done Yukio walked into the morgue next door. "Oh hell," he said softly when he saw Indigo laid out on the table.

* * *

It was very late when Yukio managed to finish the autopsy and his eyes were red.

He'd barely left the cave that disguised the Facility's lower entrance when he saw the first wisp of white following him. By the time the path reached a small grove of trees where the canopy would blot out the moon and stars he had counted a half dozen spectre. Yukio was about fifty feet from the point where the campus, and the campus' lit pathways began when three La Llorona confronted him. Yukio stared at them and sighed. "I've told you before: They aren't _your _children, they won't ease _your _guilt," he said.

"You know where the children are buried," the central La Llorona declared. Yukio counted four more closing off the possibility of retreat. "Take us to the children."

"No," he said. He took several prepared seals out of his pocket and cast a barrier around himself. "Did you think I wouldn't prepare after your first attack?" he asked as he removed a bundle of velvet from his school bag and unrolled it to reveal three purification candles and several bundles of herbs. Almost disinterestedly Yukio started setting up the exorcism kit he'd put together after the previous attack.

The central La Llorona stepped across Yukio's barrier without hindrance. The candles dropped out his hand and rolled away. "That's not possible," he said taking several steps back. A second La Llorona grabbed him from behind, wrapping her icy arms around him, pinning his arms to his sides. "Take us to the children," she whispered in his ear. "Or you'll face your own judgement before the sun rises."

"Gara Gara!" A voice shouted and a horde of ghostly snakes rushed through the clearing. The La Llorona holding Yukio lost substance. He broke free and quickly moved toward the source of the attack. Shura stepped out of the shadows and cast a barrier of her own around the two of them.

Two of the La Llorona were blown back as the barrier sprung into existence. Shura lowered her sword with a sigh of relief. "Did you actually screw-up a simple barrier spell?" she asked Yukio in disbelief.

"My spell was fine," Yukio said shortly. Then he grimaced. "Thanks for the save."

"Oh don't thank me yet," Shura replied. She turned to the La Llorona, "Ladies, I'm a bit confused. Yukio here isn't much of a kid anymore and he can't be a faithless lover because I happen to know for a fact that he's a virgin. So what do you lot want with him?"

"He knows where the children are buried," the La Llorona who had grabbed Yukio said. "We must find the stolen children."

"I don't know what she's talking about," Yukio said.

"Really?" Shura asked skeptically. "'Cause that's not what you said before. They might care about who's kids they are... but I don't."

"You didn't just happen along, you've been following me," Yukio realized.

"Did you sign a demon-contract?" Shura asked laying her blade along Yukio's collar bone and studying his eyes closely. "Is that what's holding you silent."

"No," Yukio replied. "The Facility doesn't use them."

"That does fit with your Grandfather's M.O." Shura said frowning. "So… Dead kids, start talking."

"Humans don't actually need demons to do their killing for them," Yukio pointed out.

"But they don't sense when a contract's been breached either," Shura replied. "So show us and don't get caught."

Yukio thought for a moment then gave a small nod and Shura withdrew her sword. As they walked she gave him a sidelong glance. "Threat or no, this isn't like you."

"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do," Yukio suggested.

Shura studied him for a moment, "You think if the Facility gets shut down your project to turn your brother human will get shut down too."

Yukio stumbled.

"I don't know you? Yeah right," Shura snorted. "Do you actually think that brother of yours would want you wrecking yourself for him like this? Cause if he would, he ain't worth it. And if this isn't what he'd want, why are you doing it?"

"It doesn't matter what Rin would want," Yukio replied. "He's an idiot who can't look after himself. That's why Father entrusted him to me."

"If you're gonna tell me Shiro'd approve of what you're doing, even of what you're doing to yourself, save your breath," Shura said. She turned to the La Llorona, "Just so I can hold it over him, what was wrong with his barrier?"

"His guilty heart," the leader said. A faint look of relief flitted across Shura's face and was quickly concealed. "He can't keep us out when his heart knows he should be with us."

Yukio spun around, fully animated for the first time since seeing Indigo's body, his eyes burning with hate. "I am nothing like you!" he declared, his voice dropping into a deep growl. "You murdered your children simply to pursue your selfish desires."

The La Llorona cringed away from Yukio in terror and even Shura felt a sliver of ice run down her spine at the sight of Yukio's eyes.

"There is nothing I wouldn't sacrifice for Rin!"

Shura swallowed then gave Yukio a cool look. "And when are you planning on forgiving your brother for all those sacrifices he never asked you for?"

Yukio flinched and turned away. "We're almost there," he said in his normal voice. He turned off the path headed west, scanning the treetops for a particular shape. "Cupressus sempervirens," he said, his pace picking up as he spotted a dark green spire. "Graveyard Cypress." Just past the tree he saw a small cave in the cliff face. Yukio took out a flashlight and crawled inside. Shura murmured a quick spell and retrieved her own light then followed after Yukio. The La Llorona walked through the rock face.

After crawling for fifty feet the cave opened up on a deep chasm Shura could hear the La Llorona's wails echoing up from the depths. She shone light down into the pit and recoiled at the massive pile of bodies that were revealed.

"Successful tests," Yukio said tonelessly. He pointed his light across the pit to illuminate a service elevator. "Last floor, everybody off. For months I've been thinking that my math had to be wrong. I estimate that the Facility has three fatalities a week on average. You have to conserve test subjects you know, or there'd be more. Still that's roughly a hundred bodies a year for the last sixteen years. I guess I wasn't wrong after all."

"I have no idea where they get all them," Yukio added forcefully, even though Shura hadn't asked. "But ultimately this is where they all end up."

Shura played her light back and forth across the pile of carelessly discarded bodies. Arms and legs stuck out at random angles. Rib-cages gaped open, cracked for autopsy with no effort made to restore the body to a semblance of its original condition afterwards.

"Of course they're all demons; or at least part-demons who show their heritage too strongly; and we are Exorcists. This may look a bit grotesque but really it's just a job well done," Yukio said blandly.

"If you honestly believed that, you wouldn't have brought us here," Shura said. "If you really had your heart in this you wouldn't have given in so easily."

"Believe what you like," Yukio said and turned to leave.

Shura took one last shuddering glance at the pit then went after him. They walked back toward Yukio's dorm in silence.

As they crossed the campus Shura's walk took on a drunken sway. She threw a careless arm around Yukio's shoulders. "How long's it been since you tested yourself?" Shura asked quietly as Yukio stiffened in surprise.

"A few months," he answered not looking at her.

"Test yourself again and keep checking, frequently," Shura told him.

"Why?"

Shura turned her head to look back down the path toward the pit. "Because I don't wanna find you down there."

Yukio flinched.

Shura leaned closer to him and whispered. "I'm guessing that today was a test and you just it failed: You haven't completely eviscerated your heart yet."

"But they can't know that. Your dorm room is bugged. You have got to act like it's just another day or they'll know, and the act starts now. If it ever hits you, how deep you're in this, come to my apartment. Don't make me go looking for your corpse."

* * *

The next day Yukio felt like a puppet as he went through his classes. His body went through the motions of his daily routine, he could watch himself answer his teacher's questions, and move about the campus as if there was someone else driving his body and he was nothing more than a disinterested spectator in the whole thing.

At the Facility he checked into the Infirmary then spent the first half of his shift picking bullet fragments out of an eight-year-old's thigh then making notes on how the toxins his colleagues had coated the bullet with had affected healing. When he finished bandaging the wound he gave his patient an empty, professional smile and told the guards that they could have him.

"Yukio, if you're finished up there?" Saul asked.

"What is it? Another autopsy?"

"You handled that much better than I was expecting," Saul admitted. "So I figure it's time. I know you've been curious about where we get our subjects."

"How could I not be," Yukio heard himself say. "You have more Fallen in this facility than I thought existed in all of Gehenna."

"Let me show you the the secret of our success," Saul said leading Yukio out into the corridor. "Exorcists have been trying to make better means of killing demons pretty much since time began. But one bad field test and there goes your researcher. We figured out a few things that worked and we stuck with them. Exorcist tactics stagnated well over a thousand years ago. Until this facility started a hundred and seventy-five years ago."

"Lord Egin isn't the founder?" Yukio responded, injecting the right amount of surprise into his voice.

"He's only the latest director, he took over from his mentor twenty years ago," Saul said. "This beauty is the heart of the facility. As long as we've got her we have controlled experimentation and scientific discovery to drag demon-slaying into the twenty-first century." He unlocked a heavy metal door and ushered Yukio inside. The room contained a large, heavily reinforced tank. Drifting in the murky depths, held unconscious by the fluid surrounding her was a demon with the head and torso of a woman and the lower body of a monstrous snake. A pair of withered wings sprouted from her shoulder blades.

"Echidna," Yukio breathed.

Saul grinned. "Capturing her was the stroke of luck that made all this possible. Ever since we've had the Mother of Monsters busily supplying us with new test subjects." He opened another door off to the side of the room and Yukio looked inside to see row after row of tubes each containing a more human-seeming demoness, many of them showing signs of pregnancy. "We would have preferred to stick with half-demon subjects," Saul said, "But even Echidna couldn't keep up with the demand in this place. To maintain our stock of subjects for the Facilities experiments we had to use her daughters as well."

Yukio felt a wave of revulsion. The child he'd just treated, and hundreds of other children with no names only numbers, children whose entire lives consisted of nothing more than serving as test subjects for the Facility's latests weapons. That could have been Rin's childhood if not for Shiro. Could have been his childhood. "What do you do with the children who are born human?" Yukio had to ask.

Saul shrugged. "Mostly we put them up for adoption. Occasionally the sire decides to take them home for one reason or another; you know 106. But that's a practice Lord Egin discourages. It blurs the line between demon and human."

Saul led Yukio back to the infirmary. "So, that's our secret. We needed test subjects, so we bred them. Like everyone else, you'll be required to donate sperm."

Saul gave Yukio a leering smile. "Some of the guys like donating the old fashion way. You can take a better look at the girls later If you see any you like, just let me know."

* * *

"_I'm an uncle?" Rin asked his voice full of delight as he stared down at the two tiny children. His bangs cast his downturned face in shadows. "Wow, Yukio I absolutely never saw that coming. They're just like we used to be." _

_He gave one of the tiny children a nudge toward Yukio. "They say you can take that one home, but the other one has to stay here with me." As he spoke Rin looked up at Yukio, revealing Rene's burnt-out eye socket. "Maybe if you pull some strings you can get him a relatively painless death. I mean, if you care enough to bother."_

Yukio woke up to a pounding headache and a foul-tasting mouth. He reached blindly for his glasses but instead of the bedside table in his dorm room his hand encountered a bare shoulder. "What the hell!" he exclaimed.

"And good morning to you too," Shura replied. She sat up and handed Yukio his glasses.

He realized he was only in his boxers and pulled the sheep up to his chin, inadvertently revealing more of Shura. She smirked at him and stretched languidly.

"What happened?" Yukio demanded.

"Well, you turned up here last night in a state," Shura began as Yukio's memories began to trickle back in. "I figured it would do you a world of good to get drunk and get laid…"

Yukio lunged for the trashcan. Shura pursed her lips in a pout as he dry heaved. "Last night I was ready to blame the alcohol but I'm starting to feel insulted," she said.

Yukio looked up from the trashcan. "Yesterday my superior at my Grandfather's research lab asked me if I'd like to rape an unconscious half-demon for the purpose of making subjects for my Grandfather's weapons testing. The last thing I need right now is to get laid," he snarled.

"I suppose I won't take it personally then," Shura remarked. "What else is going on under the mountain?"

"Don't you know?" Yukio asked.

"I don't think Egin trusts me," Shura shrugged. "Can't imagine why."

The color that had begun to return to Yukio's face drained away again. "They're going to want semen samples even if I don't-" he looked at Shura with panic in his eyes. "Whatever Grandfather says about me being human, half my genetics still come from Satan."

"I thought Mephisto was bad, trying to turn Rin into a weapon against Satan, but Grandfather would love to have someone like Rin in his hands. They'd take Rin apart trying to figure out how to better hurt Satan."

"Egin'd do that to his own grandchild?" Shura encouraged.

Yukio laughed bitterly. "He treated Rene as a grandson for twelve years but when his demon-blood awoke, Grandfather had him strapped down to a table for two weeks while they titrated holy water into his eye. His file says determining the exact holy water exposure needed to overcome demonic healing was an 'interesting data point'."

"Your Grandfather is a nasty piece of work," Shura agreed. "But you're going to have to tell me every last thing if I'm going to be able to help you get out of it."

"You're here to infiltrate the Facility," Yukio said.

"The Grigori don't trust Egin," Shura admitted. "But what you've told me, that isn't enough of an excuse to shut him down."

Yukio grimaced. "No one cares that they're torturing kids here because they're half or quarter demons."

Shura gave him a cool look. "That's right, just like none of the higher ups gave a damn when you nearly got that brother you love so much, killed." She might as well have slapped Yukio. "They might care that he's breeding high-level demons but they won't care that he's testing weapons on them."

Yukio sat on the floor and leaned back against the wall to look up at Shura. "What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Egin's always been ambitious," Shura said. "So tomorrow when you back to work you start keeping your ears open. He's not the sort to be happy in a support position. Before the the Blue Night he was poised to overthrow the other two members of the Grigori and take sole power. Everything we know about him says he's looking to get there again. Find out what he's up to and you've got your ticket out… And in the mean time, you don't even have to give up your pet project."

* * *

**Notes: ** "Mother Goose": Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home. You're house is on fire, your children will burn.

"Who killed Cock Robin" is also an English nursery rhyme but not "Mother Goose"

I will be taking a break from this story for awhile to switch back to events with Rin and company in Japan. Because Echidna isn't just the Mother of Monsters she is also the daughter of Gaia and thus Amaimon's half-sister. But Yukio's been in Rio for around eight months now and life hasn't been stagnant in Japan since he's been gone.


	9. Walk me Through the Valley Teaser

Sequel is up:

**Walk me through the Valley**

Back at the True Cross Academy of Japan the Exwires start the next phase of their training and begin working toward their chosen Meisters as Rin starts to discover the consequences of having fully awakened his demon-blood.


End file.
